Tick Tok
by LVAv8or
Summary: Horatio and his team have 12 hours to find their missing teammate before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

"Come on...COME ON!" Walter yelled slamming his fists on the desk.

"Walter calm down!" Dave said looking over to him.

"Well make it go faster!"

"I can't!"

97%...98%...99%... scanning IP address... ... 8955 NW 107th Avenue, Doral

"Walter!" Dave said pointing at the screen.

Walter jumped and reached for his radio. "Guys! You need to go to 8955 NW 107th Avenue, Doral!" The line was silent; he paused thinking that no one heard so he repeated himself.

"Walter, you need to calm down!" Dave shot back.

"Calm down!... Calm down, we are dealing with a serial killer that has given us an 12 hour window, we don't have much time!" Walter yelled.

Walter grabbed the radio again and was about to say something when a whiskey voice that was usually calm and collected begin shouting back. "Canie and Tripp heading south on Hialeah Hia Gardens Blvd, ETA 30 minutes.

A few minutes later Eric's voice filled the room "Delko and Wolfe, heading east on 74th Street ETA 10 minutes."

Followed by "Duquesne! On the corner of 58th and 107th ETA 5 minutes!"

Calleigh foot stomped to ground as she pushed her hummer to its limits. She was going 110 down 107th weaving in and out of traffic. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She screamed slamming her hands on the steering wheel.

Calleigh was in the left lane when an old lady cut in her lane, taking up both lanes causing Calleigh move into oncoming traffic.

Her eyes got wide as she came face to face with a semi truck that was honking the horn and flashing its high beams.

"What are you doing bitch!" a voice said from behind Natalia. Natalia turned around from the laptop and was greeted with punch to face causing her jaw her break. Natalia lost her balance for a second before she regained her composer, she looked over to see her attacker take another swing but Natalia lifted her arms. His hand snagged against her bonded hands causing the duck tape to rip, freeing her hands.

Natalia stood on her own two feet; her pain subsided from the rush of adrenaline. She took another swing but missed and fell to ground. "That is it, I'm going to kill you." the man said.

He took out a gun and walked to Natalia, he leaned over her, and just as he did this Natalia raised her head, head-butting him. Causing him to drop the gun, Natalia grabbed the gun and fired only there was nothing but clicking. "Shit" she said under her breath, so she turned the gun around and him square in the temple knocking him out.

Natalia stood on her feet and made her way to the stairs, she took the first step on the stairs and felt her knee give way and she came crashing down the first flight slamming her head on the ground knocking her out as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**ONE DAY EARIER **

It was 6:30 in the morning and Natalia was laying in a California king size bed on her stomach with the sheets bunched up at her waist.

Natalia was never a morning but since her love life finally took a turn for the better she found herself waking up the same time as her lover. Today was like every other day Natalia woke up and sat up in bed.

Looking around she found herself alone in the empty room, until movement from the bathroom caught her attention. The bathroom door opened to reveal her lover for the past 10 months, standing against the door jam in a black tank top and black boy shorts was Calleigh Duquesne.

Calleigh smiled and began to walk up the Natalia's side of the bed, "Morning sunshine." she said as she crawled her way up Natalia's body. Natalia watched as Calleigh climbed her body grinning looking like a Florida jungle cat getting ready pounce.

Her hands touched Natalia stomach at the hem of tank top, and raised it up as she continued to crawl up her body. Calleigh removed her Natalia's tank and leaned down for a hot and hungry kiss.

While kissing Natalia, Calleigh threw one leg over her waist capturing Natalia under her. Natalia let out a moan as she felt Calleigh's hands play with her breast.

Calleigh began to kiss along Natalia's jaw line, till she made it her neck. Natalia raised her hands to touch Calleigh, but Natalia stopped when Calleigh gave her a warning nip on her neck with a low growl.

Calleigh moved her hands from Natalia's breast to her wrist, and put Natalia's hands above her head. Once Calleigh did this she continued her assault on Natalia's body. She kissed her lips followed by her jaw line then her neck. Calleigh stuck out her tongue out and licked her way down Natalia's body getting to her main goal.

Calleigh made it to top of Natalia's pants, her fingers played with the hem of her pants when Natalia's phone went off. Natalia reached over and looked at it and saw that Ryan was calling.

Calleigh raised her head and saw that Natalia's finger was flirting with green slide button. "If you answer that I swear you will live to regret it."

"It's Ryan, he only calls if it is an emergency," Natalia said as she slid her finger to accept the call. "Boa..." Natalia gave a winch of pain when she felt Calleigh give her another nip on her hip harder than the one before. "Vista."

"Hey, Natalia are you okay?" Ryan asked

"Yeah, I hit my elbow on the nightstand." Natalia replied.

"Well, we found another body that fits the MO of our killer."

"What?" Natalia said sitting up, "We didn't get any clues, this is unlike the killer."

"Yeah, well maybe it's a copycat" Ryan said with a sigh, "I'm heading to the scene right now, actually I will be passing your house in a few minutes, I'll pick you up."

"Uh...I'm not at the house right now I had to run some errands this morning and plus I have to stop the by lab any way. So I'll meet you at the scene in 20 minutes." She said while putting her hands through Calleigh hair.

"Okay, well the scene is at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home on 8th street"

"Okay, see you in twenty" Natalia said. She hung up the phone and placed it back on the nightstand. Before looking back down at Calleigh, who was laying her head on Natalia's stomach.

"Crime scene?" Calleigh said crawling back up Natalia's body.

"Yeah" was all Natalia could say, as Calleigh kissed her long and hard. Natalia let out a moan as Calleigh backed way, "Dinner at my place tonight?"

"I would love that, because we still have some unfinished business to attend to," Calleigh said while rolling off Natalia.

Natalia grinned and followed Calleigh into bathroom were the two took a shower together and got ready for the workday.

Both women went to the station, Calleigh made her way upstairs to the lab while Natalia went downstairs to the hummer checkout.

15 minutes later Natalia was at Caballero Rivero, she made her way to back room were the caskets and cremation containers were stored. She looked around at the dark room to see Ryan in the corner snapping pictures and Tom looking at the body.

Natalia stopped and put down her kit and put on her gloves. "So did our killer strike again or is it a copycat?" Natalia asked as she looked around the room.

"The MO is the same, gunshot wound to the kneecap, stab wound in the lower stomach hitting the aorta causing him to bleed to death." Tom continued "From the outside it looks like our killer, if something is different it will have to wait till I get the body back to lab." Tom stood and waved for the corners to come and take the body.

"So everything here says our killer, he didn't leave behind his usual clue to torment us. We were finally going to be a step ahead of him and then he pulls this." Ryan said before snapping another picture.

Natalia took out her flashlight and began looking around. "Yeah, but have you seen this place, it's a dump maybe the clue got tossed aside." Natalia said as she leaned down to next the chair where the body was found.

She took a picture before picking up the wallet that was found on the ground. "What do we have here Miss Boa Vista." A husky voice said coming from the door.

"Casey Clayton, 45 year old male from Settle. My guess he is here on vacation or business." Natalia said.

"And were there any clues to left behind to inform us that Mr. Clayton was going to be next?"

Natalia just shook her head before looking at Horatio who was still at the entrance.

"Okay well keep an eye out, our next clue is around here somewhere" Horatio said.

"Hey H! I found something," Ryan yelled from the office.

Both Natalia and Horatio looked over to the doorway were Ryan was. He came out holding a box for an Xbox 360 with an ID card for Microsoft. "Clayton was the lead software development engineer for Xbox live." Ryan said while putting the box in an evidence bag.

Natalia looked around as Ryan and Horatio continued their conversation. "So why didn't Mr. Falco report this?" Ryan asked.

"Good question, Mr. Wolfe" Horatio said before turning his attention to Natalia. "Did you find something Ms. Boa Vista?"

Natalia stood up holding a white piece of paper with blood, hair and a used Kleenex. "I think it's our next clue." She said handing it Ryan.

Ryan took a quick look at it before his phone went off. Handing it back to Natalia who bagged and tagged before walking back to the corner of the room.

"Actually, Natalia, can I see that?" Horatio asked, Natalia handed the bag to Horatio and with that he left the room.

Horatio walked out of the room and joined Frank who was questioning the owner, Mr. Falco.

Mr. Falco was a young man in his early twenties with dark brown short hair and a little stubble around his face. He was wearing a black pin stripe suit with Louie Vuttion sunglasses and loafers.

"Mr. Falco, can you explain why you didn't call the police when there was evidence that could have stopped this murder?" Horatio asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't find it important." Mr. Falco replied.

"Didn't find it important. You don't find evidence to a possible murder important?" Frank said with a little disgust in his voice.

"I'm sorry officer Tripp, but look around you this funeral home is not in the best location." Pointing to his left "Go a mile in a half down that way you will be in Mara Salvatrucha territory" Pointing to his right "mile in a half down that way Latin Kings territory." Pointing behind him " Bloods" pointing in front of him "Crips, all roads cross right here. I get threats all the time, wanting me to pay for protection. If I call you every time I get a threat...you guys wouldn't be here right now."

Frank and Horatio exchanged looks, and quietly accepted his answer.

Back inside, Natalia and Ryan were still in the back getting ready to pack up and go back to the lab. When Ryan's phone went off again. "Who are you texting?" Natalia finally asked.

"No one, I'm playing burn the rope. They have new co op mode and I'm losing badly." Ryan said handing the phone to Natalia.

Natalia smiled, "Why are you going this way? You need..." Natalia was cut short when Ryan grabbed the phone from her.

"I can do it on my own." Ryan said putting his phone back in his pocket "I'll see you back at the lab."

Natalia walked back to her kit smiling, "But I solved it, I solved it don't you want to know how?" she said with a chuckle.

"No!" was the only noise she heard before the door closed.

The room was quiet for a few moments when a voice was heard behind her, "He might not, but I do."

Natalia turned around to see who else was in the room. When she finally completed the turn the only thing that she saw was a flash of sliver, there was a loud bang like the sound of medal hitting something followed by an even louder thud as Natalia's lifeless body fell to the floor. There standing over her body grinning with a shovel in his hand was none other then the owner Brian Falco.

Taking a wheel car from the other room he lifted Natalia into the chair and covered her body making her look like an old lady and took her outside by passing the patrol cars and put Natalia in the Hummer and drove off.


	3. Chapter 3

Back at the lab, Calleigh was joking with Eric and Walter at the reception desk, when Horatio came through the elevator. "Guys, lets meet in the conference room in 5 minutes its important." he said walking past them to the DNA lab.

Maxine was typing on the computer when Horatio came, "Hey, Horatio what can I do for you today?"

"I need you to run these for me and tell me everything you can about this person. I need to know ASAP." He said handing her the paper that Natalia found earlier.

"Not a problem, I will run them now." She said getting ready to start the tests.

Horatio nodded and made his way to the conference thru the glass he could see Frank, Calleigh, Eric and Walter all sitting in there talking, just before he was about to walk in he saw Ryan come through the elevators. "Mr. Wolfe" he yelled waving he over to the conference room.

"Okay..." Horatio trailed off looking at everyone "Where's Natalia?" he asked.

"She must be stuck in traffic. I left the scene a few moments before her and the causeway was pretty packed." Ryan said.

"Okay, we will just catch her up when she gets here." Horatio continued "I called you all in here because these murders are becoming more serious. Our killer has moved up from killing prostitutes and homeless people he is moving up to bigger people, people that are more likely to be reported missing, his is getting more comfortable, and he must be stopped. Right now four people on this case will not cut it anymore, I need all of you to help." Horatio said.

"Not a problem H, what do you need?" Eric said.

"Well up till now, our killer has been leaving clues to who the next victim will be. We didn't get the clue for Mr. Clayton because the owner of the funeral home thought it was another threat from one of the local gangs. Mr. Clayton was the lead software development engineer for Xbox live." Horatio said.

"So his next victim will be someone who is in the public a lot, or has a lot of authority." Calleigh added.

"That is correct. At the scene today Natalia found a paper that blood, hair and a used Kleenex probably from his next victim. I gave the samples to Maxine and she is running them right now." Horatio said.

Horatio didn't get the chance to continue his statement when Maxine came into the room pale with wide eyes.

"Miss Valera?" Horatio asked.

"I ran the DNA samples you found at the scene..." she trailed off.

"And?" Eric said leaning forward in his seat.

"All three samples are a match to... Natalia..."

Walter grabbed the paper from Maxine's hand to look for himself. "She's right," he said.

Ryan got out his phone, "I'll call her cell," he said punching in the numbers.

"I got her house," Eric added.

"I'll try dispatch," Frank said.

Ryan hit send and he listened as the phone rang hoping that she would pick up. But no luck, her phone went to voicemail. "Hey, it's Natalia leave a message after the beep and I'll call you back as soon as possible." Ryan heard the beep, "Hey Talia it's Ryan, call me back when you get this." He said before hang up the phone.

"She didn't answer her house phone." Eric said putting his phone down.

"Same for me" Ryan added.

"Dispatch didn't get a response from her either."

"Okay guys lets not panic, we will find her. Ryan and Eric I want you guys to go back to crime scene. Calleigh and Walter I want you two to stop by her house, and her sisters' house maybe she might be there. Frank go downstairs and listen for any unusual activity and I'll stay here just in case she shows up." Horatio said. And with that the CSI's went there separate ways.

All the way to Natalia's house Calleigh tried to calm herself down. She kept telling herself that Natalia was okay, probably stuck in traffic and her hearing aid was malfunctioning so she couldn't hear the phone the ring. But those thoughts were short lived because soon images of Natalia tied to a chair shot and stabbed started to fill her head. She became so disgusted that she felt like throwing up, she felt her foot go closer to the ground as Walter and her raced to her Natalia's house.

* * *

><p>Beep Beep<p>

Brian pulled up into Nathan's custom auto car shop on Hialeah Hia Gardens Blvd. He got out of car and was greeted by his friend and owner of the shop Nate, Brian raised his hands, "And you said I couldn't kill two birds with one stone" he said with a grin.

Nate just smiled as he wiped his hands and walked up to Hummer. "You are unbelievable Brian, pop the hood."

Brian popped the hood, and walked in front of the car with Nate as they both looked at it. "So does this put me ahead of everyone else?" Brian said with a smile.

Nate made a face and backed away from the Hummer and walked around to the side to see the Miami Dade Police Department seal on the door. "This is cop car, I can't take this."

"Why not, this has all the parts that you need the lowest part on this is car is $100,000." Brian said.

"Yeah, it's fucking cop car Brian! look at the engine this thing is riddled with GPS tracking units. It connected to everything in this car. The engine, the brakes, the air conditioner, everything." Nate said in a raised voice.

"Holy shit" was the only response Brain gave looking closer at the engine.

Looking in the passenger seat Nate paused "Tell me that is not the cop that was driving this car?"

Brian just looked at Nate and smiled.

"You need to get this shit off my lot now! I already have the cops breathing down my back for this being a chop shop, I don't need this added on."

"So, what's the big deal?" Brian said.

"What's the big deal? Were not listening about the GPS? The cops will know everything about this car, where it's been, how fast she was going, they probably know if this bitch is wearing her seatbelt. They are probably tracking this car right now... Get rid of it!" Nate yelled.

"Fine" Brian said under his breath.

"And don't talk to me till you get rid of ALL of this." Nate said point to the car and Natalia.

"Okay, you know I miss the old you. The you that didn't care about anything, the new you is a punk little bitch." Brian said before he got back into the car.

* * *

><p>Walter and Calleigh pulled up the Natalia's house; Walter got out and walked up the front door. Calleigh took her time, she pulled out her phone and instead of calling Natalia's house phone she called her house. The phone went to voicemail "Hey Nat, it me please call me when you get this. We all worried about you."<p>

"She's not answering." Walter said raising his hands, "do you know where her sisters live?"

"No" Calleigh said shaking her head, she was lying. She felt a pit at the bottom of her stomach, this was not the time and place to lie. Natalia was missing, she could be in the hands of Horatio's killer, and she was lying about not knowing were her sister's lived. She had been to both of their houses for Christmas, New Years and Natalia's niece's and nephew's birthdays. Calleigh took a breath to tried to think of a lie to help her. "Wait! I helped find her sister Anya, I think I still have her phone number in my phone." She looked down at her phone, "I still have her address too" Calleigh said as they raced to the Hummer.

* * *

><p>Eric and Ryan made it back to the back to the crime scene, "Natalia's Hummer is still here. Maybe she's inside." Eric said looking around.<p>

"Yeah" Ryan said as he drew his gun and walked through the door. "Miami Dade PD! If there is anyone inside identify yourself!"

The room was quiet, the two men made their way further back into the funeral home. "This is where we were all morning." Ryan said looking around.

Eric looked around till a flash caught his eye, "Ryan" he said nodding to the chair where Mr. Clayton was found tied up.

"Oh, god" Ryan said raising his hand to his mouth.

Eric clenched his jaw in anger as he pulled out his phone. "H, it me... Yeah we found something... Her Hummer is outside and back at the scene we found something... We found her badge, gun, hearing aid and a jump drive... Okay" Eric said as he hung up the phone.

* * *

><p>Walter and Calleigh made it Anya's house in record time, the whole way there they were calling her but she wasn't answering her phone.<p>

"Do you think the killer got her family as well?" Walter said.

Calleigh closed her eyes, angry that Walter had to add that image to her mind. "I don't know Walter, just keep calling and don't stop till someone picks up." Calleigh said in a firm voice.

Once at Anya's house they saw her in the driveway taking out a bag of groceries. Calleigh had a sigh of relief when she saw that Anya was okay. "Hey Calleigh what's up?" she said with a smile that disappeared quickly when she saw that Calleigh was in no mood for small talk.

"Why haven't you been answering your phone?" Calleigh demanded.

"I needed to go grocery shopping and I left my phone at the house. Sorry, is everything okay?" she said walking into the house.

The three made it into the kitchen where Anya grabbed her phone and saw that she had 27 missed calls all from Calleigh. "Jesus Cal, what the hell?"

"Natalia is missing, has she called you at all?" Calleigh said.

"We spoke yesterday right before she went..." Anya paused and looked Walter, then closed her eyes and bit her lip. She silently punished herself for almost slipping Calleigh and Natalia's secret.

"Before she went where?" Walter demanded.

"A girlfriend's house" Anya shuddered.

"What's her friend's name?" Walter asked taking out a pen and paper.

"Don't know she didn't say." Anya said while exchanging looks with Calleigh.

"Well can you remember anything?" Walter continued.

Anya just shook her head. At that time both Calleigh and Walter got a paige to return the lab.

Sighing, Calleigh looked at Anya "Tell Christine from me, and if you hear anything let me know immediately regardless what anyone tells you. You understand."

Anya just shook her head again, and with that both Walter and Calleigh left and made their way back to the lab.

In 10 minutes Calleigh and Walter were back at the lab, getting off the elevator they looked around till they found Eric, Ryan, Horatio and Frank in the AV lab.

"Hey what's up?" Walter said looking at the screen.

"We found Natalia's gun, badge, hearing aid and this jump drive at the scene along with Natalia's Hummer." Eric said handing Calleigh a folder.

Without hesitation Calleigh grabbed the folder and began to thumb through it.

"What's on the jump drive" Walter asked getting closer to the desk.

"Well it's not just any jump drive, it's a dongle." Dave said without taking his eyes off the screen.

"A what?" Walter asked.

"It's a software protection device, you put code or a program on here that you want to protect. But thing is about this one is we have three tries to guess what the password is," Dave with sigh.

"What happens after three tries?" Eric asked.

"It will delete everything that is on here"

The room went silent as Ryan, Walter and Eric exchanged looks.

"Something's not adding up here" Calleigh said breaking the silent between the guys.

"How do you mean Calleigh?" Horatio asked taking a step closer to the blonde.

"Natalia was the only one to use the Hummer, expect for Eric when he towed it back here. When the Hummer was checked out it had 125,000 miles on it. Its 25 miles from here to funeral home, meaning that there should 125,050 miles on here. But the log says that says that the Hummer has 125,100 miles on it." Calleigh explained.

"There are 50 extra miles there." Eric said deep in thought.

"Maybe she ran a quick errand before going to crime scene." Dave said adding his two cents.

"No, ever since the hole Stetler scandal came out about him stealing cars, the county wired GPS into all the police cars. People started getting in trouble about running errands on the job." Ryan said who was now standing by Calleigh looking at the folder.

"Well if they keep track of the Hummer's movements let's just ask for log," Dave said looking around at everyone.

Horatio got his phone and called downstairs and asked for the GPS file on Hummer #35, with in minutes the file was being downloaded to Dave's screen.

"Okay let's see what we have here. At 6:50 a.m she went from the lab to crime scene, arriving there at 7:10 a.m. The Hummer does move till 10:45 a.m." Dave said looking at the screen.

"Where did it go?" Eric said leaning in closer.

"Let's see it went to a Nathan's custom auto car shop on Hialeah Hia Gardens Blvd. It was there for about 20 minutes till it drove back to the scene, then back here." Dave added.

"Okay, here is what we are going to do. Walter you stay here with Dave and see what you guys can get off that Dongle, Calleigh and Eric process Natalia's Hummer and Mr. Wolfe, you and I are going to Nathan's custom auto car shop." Horatio said, but just before he was going to put on his sunglasses a firm "No!" was shouted.

Everyone looked over to the petite blonde as she stood there, "I'm going with you Horatio." She said.

Horatio gave a slight nod indicting that Ryan and Calleigh would trade places. Once again the CSI's all went their separate ways.


	4. Chapter 4

Natalia opened her eyes slowly, only to shut them again quickly when the on set of pain began. Her head and face felt like they were burning, after a few moments Natalia let out a groan and opened her eyes again. Trying to get up she realized that her hands were tapped together along with her feet and her mouth. She took a few moments to get a good look at her surroundings. She was in a bedroom lying on a bed, by the bed she could see a wooden chair facing a computer. There was movement in the far corner, looking over she could see Brian sitting at a table with his legs crossed typing on a computer sipping on a cup of coffee.

Brian looked over to Natalia, he smiled and grabbed a plate off the table and made his way over to Natalia. "Well hello sleeping beauty" he said before sitting on the bed next to Natalia.

He leaned over and took the tape off of Natalia lips, and gave a shocked look at her. "You are the first person who didn't scream when I took the tape off," Brian said taking another sip of his coffee.

Natalia said nothing; all she did was glare at him while he sipped of his coffee. Finally putting the mug down he grabbed a container and shook it in front of Natalia. "Tylenol? I hit you pretty hard with a shovel, your head has to be on fire right now."

He got silence as his answer.

Shaking his head he put the Tylenol back on the desk "Fair enough you don't want to talk, I did slap in it face with a shovel, but here eat this." He said putting a sandwich to her lips.

"Oh come on, it's your favorite. Turkey on wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, and light mayo."

Natalia just turned her head to the side, making Brian get upset.

"You haven't eaten anything all day, you left Calleigh's in a bet of a rush and you have been passed out for most of the morning. I know you have to be hungry."

Once again silence was his only answer.

Brian lost is temper and took a fist full of Natalia's hair jerking her forward and slamming her back on the bed's backboard. "Eat the fucking sandwich Natalia, or I'll make you eat it. I don't want you passing out when we have our conference call with Horatio." Brain said, but Natalia didn't respond.

Brian sighed and let go of Natalia's hair and put the sandwich in his other hand, he gave a smile and punched Natalia in the stomach causing her to scream out in pain. Once she opened her mouth Brian shoved the sandwich in her mouth.

"There, now was that so hard?" Brian said with smile.

But all Natalia did was spit it back out in his face. Brian slapped Natalia in face hard causing her noise her bleed. He stood up and wiped the food from his face and straightened his suit before walking back to table and picking up a gun.

Natalia eye's got wide when she saw him raise it and point it right her. "I was trying to be nice to you, I don't care if you starve yourself because the only way you will be leaving this apartment, is in a body bag" he said before he pulled the trigger.

A silent bang rang out and Natalia's world slowly started to fade in the darkness.

* * *

><p>Back at the lab, Eric and Ryan were in the garage processing Natalia's Hummer. Eric took the passenger side while Ryan took the driver's side.<p>

"Lucky for us they detailed Hummers 30 through 35 yesterday, so Natalia's and whoever kidnapped her will be the only fingerprints and trace on here." Eric said.

Ryan nodded and the two men got the work. They spent an hour and half processing the Hummer, Eric went into the fingerprints lab while Ryan went to trace. Where the two stayed for the remainder of the afternoon.

* * *

><p>The car ride to Nathan's was slow, Horatio was driving and he was only going about 10 miles over the speed limit. Normally to Calleigh that was going fast, but Natalia was missing, she could be anywhere, this was no time to move at a snails pace. For the whole car ride Calleigh was tapping her foot, biting her nails and looking out the window occasionally glancing over to look at the speedometer.<p>

As much and Calleigh tried to hide emotion, it didn't take long before Horatio noticed. In fact he picked up that something was wrong from the moment Maxine came in saying that they found Natalia's DNA at the crime scene this morning.

Calleigh had been acting different all morning, she was quiet, and appeared to be fighting with herself on the inside. The thought finally occurred to him that Calleigh really cared for Natalia, as he replayed this morning events in his head he could see the small flicker of emotion in her eyes when the news just kept getting worst.

Still thinking to himself, the only time Calleigh showed emotion was when Eric had gone missing over a year ago. After a few more moments of thinking his brain started screaming at him, Natalia and Calleigh had to be a couple. _'But for how long?'_ was the question he asked himself.

He looked over to Calleigh to see her staring straight ahead now her cheeks were turning a rosy red, her eyes were starting to water and he could see the lump in her throat, she was on the verge of breaking down. _'They would have to be dating a long time if she is on the verge of the an emotional breakdown.'_ He thought to himself, all he could was give a weak smile, they would have to dating of over a year to get this kind of reaction from Calleigh. At work it would seem like they were friends, he never saw them giving longing glancing at each other or flirting with each other when they were alone in the lab, and there were a few times the two got into heated arguments about cases. At most he would have pegged them as friends and not lovers.

Horatio was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Calleigh start sniffing, through his peripheral vision he could see that Calleigh had put on her sunglasses and was looking in the glove compartment for napkins.

Although he knew the what the answer would be, he still had to say something to let her know that he would be there if she ever needed. Licking his lip and taking a slight breath he heard the words leave his lips "Are you okay Calleigh?"

"I'm fine" Calleigh said with another sniff. "I know what Natalia is going threw, being kidnapped, not know if help is on the way." _'praying to god, that she isn't taped to chair stabbed and shot'_ a comment that she made to herself.

Horatio nodded knowing that she would tell him about their relationship when she was ready. The rest of the car ride was silent till they finally made it to Nathan's.

They both got out of the car and made their way over to the store, once inside Horatio took off his sunglasses while Calleigh kept hers on.

Calleigh looked around, this place seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. A tall lean young man in his early twenties came out from a door behind the register. He was wearing dark jeans a white t shirt with oil on it.

Looking at Horatio and Calleigh's gun and badge he smiled and said "What can I do for you officers?"

"We are looking for the owner of this shop." Horatio said looking around the store.

"Well you're looking at him, Nate Mulder." Nate said with smile as he extended his hand for a handshake to both Calleigh and Horatio.

"Well Mr. Mulder, can you tell me if a champagne color Hummer like the one out there made it way on your lot this morning." Horatio asked pointing to his Hummer.

Nate looked outside and stared at the Hummer for a while before shaking his head no. "I haven't seen a Hummer like that this morning." He said now returning his gaze back to Horatio.

"Okay, are you sure? Because our tracking device says the Hummer was here for about twenty minutes before it left." Horatio said carefully studying the man.

"If it did come by I must have been in the back working" Nate said pretending to be confused.

"Well is there anyone that was working up front at the time?" Calleigh asked.

Nate shrugged his shoulders "Maybe" Nate turned around yelled "Drew!"

A few moments later Nate was joined by a shorter man with bigger muscles and was wearing a black tee shirt with jeans and black baseball cap that was on backwards. "Yeah" he said.

"Cops what to know if a Hummer exactly like that one came on to the lot this morning for about 20 minutes?" Nate said.

Drew looked out the window for a few moments till finally he shook his head and said, "I didn't see it"

Calleigh gave out a sigh, and looked over to the door were the guys had just come out of, there hanging on the wall was a garnet and gold flag with a fire truck on it. Then it hit her way this place looked so familiar.

"You wouldn't be lying to us would you Nate?" Calleigh asked, while taking off her sunglasses to study him carefully.

"Why would I lie to you?"

Calleigh shrugged, "I don't know, maybe someone you knew brought the Hummer because they know you are the best chop shop in Miami and right now Hummer parts really valuable. But you opened the hood saw the tracking devices and the Police Department symbol and got scared and sent it away."

Nate and Calleigh entered into an intense stare, until Nate broke it. "I don't know what you are talking about. This is a repair shop for people with exotic and custom cars and motorcycles. People think that it is a chop shop, but it's not, and the last time the police raided this place they didn't find anything, it just made me lose a lot of business." Nate replied in a cold tone.

Calleigh took a step closer, "Listen, a police officer was kidnapped this morning. If she dies I will make sure that police raid this place on a daily bases till you close down" Calleigh continued "Oh and let me tell you, if they find out you had something to do with it, they will make each raid is a living nightmare because you were one of the people responsible for the death of one of our own."

"Get the fuck off my lot" Nate replied.

Horatio shook his head and handed Nate his card, "If you hear anything give us a call" Horatio said before leaving.

Calleigh and Horatio got back into the Hummer, and made their way back to the lab in complete silence.

* * *

><p>Back at the lab Walter and Dave sat in the AV lab stumped.<p>

"Okay it's not her computer user name and password, and not her badge number. What do you think it could be?" Walter said as he plopped down in his chair.

"I don't know, but we only have one guess left" Dave said while running his fingers through his hair.

They sat in complete silence till Horatio and Calleigh, soon followed by Eric and Ryan, joined them.

"Gentlemen, how is it going?" Horatio asked looking at the computer screen to see _'Sign in Error Wrong Password'_ on the screen.

"Not good H, we are oh for 2 right now. What about you, any leads at the car shop?" Walter asked.

Horatio just shook his head no.

Turning to Ryan and Eric, Walter said with sigh "Please tell me you guys have something..."

Ryan smiled, "I found traces of the Castrol 10w 60 all over the engine and on the hood of the car."

"Castrol oil... they use that in exotic cars don't they Eric?" Horatio said never taking his eyes of the computer screen.

Eric smiled and gave a slight nod "That's correct H"

"Looks like Mr. Mulder was lying to us" Horatio said.

"It gets better, we found only three sets of fingers on the car. Natalia's, Nate Mulder, and a Brian Falco." Eric said.

"Falco..." Horatio continued "Falco as in..."

"The owner of Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home. Yeah." Eric interrupted.

"Okay then, we have some questions for Nate and Brian" Horatio started to say.

Horatio looked over to see that Dave had his back turned to the computer keyboard. With a look of confusion Horatio took a closer step to the computer screen.

"H?" Walter said looking at him before looking at the screen also.

All the team members had their attention to the computer screen. They watched as the mouse moved by itself over to the user name and password block. They watched as the words BV35 filled the user name and ten circles fill the password. The screen went dark for a few moments till an image popped up, that had them all shocked.


	5. Chapter 5

There sitting in front of them was Natalia, her legs taped to the two front legs of the chair, and her hands taped behind her back with her head down and mouth taped shut.

Soon after, someone wearing a black ski mask made his way into the screen. "Hello Horatio..." The man said in a deep low voice, too low and deep for it to be real.

"Hello...Mr. Falco..." Horatio said back.

The man froze and stared at the camera for a moment before looking down and taking off the ski mask to reveal Brian Falco. He spit out a voice changer and smiled at the camera, shaking his head. "That's what I get for forgetting my gloves at home."

Calleigh found herself leaning on the table clenching her jaw and gripping the table so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

"What do you want Brian?" Horatio asked in a calm voice.

Scratching his head with his gun he looked into camera, "I love trivia games, but not just any type I like challenging trivia games. Which is why I chose Natalia or mainly you guys as a hole for my next challenge." Brian said as he study everyone in the room.

"I mean my previous... 'playmates' were dumb or didn't know how to follow simple instructions. It's easy, I ask you a trivia question every hour, you get right I give a clue that may or may not lead you to where Natalia is. It's an automatic given that I won't be here because I don't want to go to jail. If you get it wrong..." Brain paused and smiled before saying, "Let's just say you won't like the result."

"What do you mean may or may not lead to Natalia?" Frank asked.

"In the words of my Ex I'm a lying, cheating, bastard. 2% of the time I can be a nice guy, and as for the other 98%, well my previous playmates answer that question. But anyways we are not here to talk about past players, we are talking about the present and the faith of Natalia's life." Brian said looking back at Natalia who was still passed out.

"Where was I... oh that's right I ask the question, you answer, depending on the answer will depend on the outcome. Now don't worry I have questions here for everybody and if you guys are lucky, or as good as everyone says you are, you will all get a turn. Now I must insist that nobody try and help anyone, because that would be cheating, and if you cheat there will be consequences. Now that we got that out of the way, the first question is for Ms. Calleigh Duquesne, or the bullet girl? That's what they call you right?" Brian said looking to Calleigh.

"I mean out of everyone here I know how much Natalia really means to you." Brian said with a grin.

"What is he talking about Calleigh?" Eric said now giving his attention to Calleigh.

"Oh, hasn't she told you? Calleigh and Natalia have been dating now for the past year" Brian continued. "I must say that we should give them a hand, because they had you guys fooled for a long time... But after listening to the phone call made this morning and seeing how oblivious Ryan is, I guess it wasn't that hard to stump you guys."

Ryan bit his lower lip in confusion, and rested his hands on his hip and gave a sigh. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Brian grinned and got up from his chair and left the frame. At that time Natalia let out groan, as she slow lifted her head. For a brief moment panic set in on the brunette CSI as she tried to move her legs and hands that were bound to the chair.

"Talia...Talia..." Natalia looked around room, as calmness set in when she heard Calleigh's voice. "Look straight ahead." Natalia looked in front of her to see the CSI team on the computer screen. She realized that they were still in the lab and probably had no clue where she was, so she let out whimper.

"Talia, it's okay we'll find you" Calleigh said trying to calm her down.

Calleigh was about to say something else when Brian came back onto the screen. "Calleigh, you know one of the first rules of being a officer of the law, you never make promises you can't keep. Your just building her hopes up, and now I have to deal with an upset Natalia for the rest of our time together."

"That is promise I _will _keep. Just like I promise, that when I find you, I _will_ kill you and I _will_ make sure that it is slow and painful if you do anything to her." she responded in cold dead tone with a heavy southern accent.

"Okay" Brian said under his breath with a chuckle. "Like I was saying before, Ryan you are completely clueless, and here is why." Brian pushed play on this tape recorder.

"_Boa...Vista." _

"_Hey, Natalia are you okay?" _

"_Yeah, I hit my elbow on the nightstand." _

"_Well, we found another body that fits the MO of our killer."_

"_What?... We didn't get any clues, this is unlike the killer." _

"_Yeah, well maybe it's a copycat. I'm heading to the scene right now, actually I will be passing your house in a few minutes, I'll pick you up." _

"_Uh...I'm not at the house right now I had to run some errands this morning and plus I have to stop the by lab any way. So I'll meet you at the scene in 20 minutes." _

"_Okay, well the scene is at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home on 8th street"_

"_Okay, see you in twenty"_

"I hit my elbow on the nightstand...Then when you offer her a ride she not at home...That doesn't raise questions for you?"

The room was silent; Brian just shook his head "Your silence is deafening."

"What's the question Falco?" Calleigh interrupted.

"Well I want to see how well you really know your guns." Brian walked up to the computer and pushed a key. Now in front of Calleigh and everyone was a picture of several different guns.

Calleigh smiled to herself, the guns that Brian displayed on the screen were vintage. They brought back memories of sitting on the pouch in Louisiana listening to her grandfather tell stories about mafia in the 1920s.

"I want you to..." Brian started.

Brian didn't get the chance to finish his question when Calleigh spoke again, " From left to right; M1928A1, Thompson .30 Carbine, M1A1, M1, and M1927A5."

Both rooms were quiet, "I'm right" Calleigh started off in whisper. "I'm right" she repeated slowly raising her voice. Till finally she slammed her fist on the table so hard that they almost broke the glass desk,_ "I'M RIGHT!"_

Ryan still had his hand on his hips; he looked down then back up the screen with a grin on his face. "What's wrong Brian, finally dawn on you that up picked the wrong people challenge?"

Brian was quiet and was staring off into the distance, grinning also Eric decided to break the silence in the room. "Your silence is deafening."

Brian was now staring into the camera clenching his jaw and stroking his eyebrow. Calleigh was glaring at him with her fist still on the table, but seeing Eric and Ryan both grinning like idiots was what made him lose his temper.

He walked over towards the table and picked up his gun, he pointed at Natalia and pulled the trigger. Natalia's head slammed back and she let out a scream of pain that could be heard clearly through her taped mouth. She started squirming violently trying to break herself free from the chair.

Thru the other end of the of computer Calleigh screamed "NO_!" loud enough to be heard on the first floor, which caused most people on their floor to look over to the AV lab and wonder what was going on.

"You bastard! She got them right," Eric yelled.

"It's a challenge detective Delektorsky you've got to be able to your adapt surroundings. Calleigh decided to jump the gun, and answer her question before I had the chance to finish. If she would have waited she would known that I wanted the years the guns came out as well as their names."

"That's cheating!" Walter said.

Brian pretended like he was thinking before he gave his response. "Seeing how I'm the one with the gun and your precious Natalia, I would say I'm the one who calls the shots. So, Calleigh got her question wrong." Brian said with smirk.

Eric didn't get the chance to say anything when Brian pushed the spacebar ending their connection. The screen went black expect for a clock in the lower right hand corner that started counting down from 12 hours.


	6. Chapter 6

Natalia finally stopped screaming and was now sobbing in the chair. She could feel the blood trickle down her leg, she was always told that being shot in the kneecap was one of the most painful places to be shot. She never believed it till now, the pain was sharp and intense, it grew like a wild fire through her body.

She had some painful battle wounds from Nick and his abusive ways, and she was still recovering from the battle wound that she got when she was rough housing with Calleigh in her living room. The two girls were wrestling on the floor, which was one of Calleigh's favorite things to do, usually because Calleigh always had the upper hand and once Natalia was pinned things would always lead to something else. But on this rare occasion Natalia gained the upper hand, for quick second Natalia's mind wandered as she was actually beating Calleigh, she didn't feel when Calleigh started to push back. Trying to give herself a better stance at the last second Calleigh pushed Natalia's right leg back making it slip into the leg of her coffee table breaking Natalia's big toe.

Those types of pains were easy for her block, but this, this was something different. All she felt was a sharp consent pain that was showing no sign of letting up. Her head hung down low, and she just stared at her knee as she felt her eyes growing heavy.

All she could see was red; on the right side of her tan slacks that she wore to work that morning were stained red. She wasn't sure if she was imagining things but it looked like her knee no longer had a shape to it.

Brian was standing pretty close to her when he shot her. A gunshot wound that close to her body had to have shuttered her kneecap somewhat if not completely.

As Natalia sat there with silent tears flowing down her face, she felt her body fight the sudden onset of pain that accompanied what was left of her kneecap. Unfortunately for the Natalia it didn't take long for her body to lose that battle, and she passed out from the pain.

* * *

><p>"Asshole! What are we going do H? And what the hell is that?" Eric said angrily with a raised voice.<p>

"We are going to relax, I don't know what that the countdown is for but let's find Natalia before it reaches zero." Horatio said. "Frank and I are going to have another talk to Mr. Mulder, Eric and Ryan I want you to find anything you can about Brian Falco. Houses he owns or owned, where he went to the school, who he hangs out with, I want to know him like the back of them hand. Walter, I want you to say here and help Dave, we were talking to him for over twenty minutes there must be someway of tracking him." Horatio turned to Calleigh who was just staring at the computer screen watching the clock countdown. "Calleigh I want you to go in the break room and try to relax."

Calleigh's head shot towards Horatio, "No, I can't do that. I need to be out there, I need to find her Horatio. Who knows what he is doing to her right now." Calleigh said.

"We will find her, but right now I need you to try and relax."

"I need to relax... I'm fine...You are going to look me in the eyes and tell me out of everyone in this room I'm the one that needs to _relax_" she said with a slightly raised voice, looking over towards Eric.

"I know, but right now this is just turned into a personal case for you. I need you with her head on straight, and plus you made a personal threat to Mr. Falco. If..."

"When" Calleigh interjected.

"...When we catch him, his defense could being up the exchanging of words you two had a moment ago and he could get a reduced sentence or worst, the judge could let him walk free. Is that what you really want?" Horatio said in a tone, indicting that he was right.

Calleigh just stared at him for a while with cold almost lifeless eyes before she huffed and turned around. "Whatever" she said under voice before she kicked the AV door open to find other lab workers gathered around the door trying to hear what was going on. Calleigh just ignored them and marched her way over the break room.

Horatio watched the whole time, and watch as in one fluid motion she shoved all the newspapers and magazines off the table before slamming her fist on the table and putting her head down. Turning back to his team he looked at them and said, "Let's go."

30 minutes later Horatio was in the interrogation room with Frank and Nate Mulder.

Nate sat with his legs stretched out and crossed with his arms folded chewing on his tongue. "Why I'm here?" he finally said.

"Your here Mr. Mulder because you lied to me." Horatio said looking out the window.

Nate also looked out the window briefly before shaking his head and replying "No."

Horatio just grinned, and set photos of the Hummer's hood that Natalia was driving with oil marks all over it, then put a paper with a chart and other chemical compounds on it.

Grabbing the photos and paper he looked at it before placing them back on the table, "What is this?"

"That Mr. Mulder would be special oil that is only sold in your store found under the hood of Natalia's Hummer, and I'm willing to bet is probably on your hands right now." Horatio said.

"Other people work there, I'm not the only one to touches that oil" Nate said now sitting up more.

"True, but we found only three set of prints on that Hummer and one of them is yours." Horatio said as he placed the pictures of the Nate's fingerprints in front of him.

Nate just sat there in the silence looking at all the evidence against him.

"We can help you Nate, if you let us." Frank added.

"Oh yeah, how?" Nate replied sarcastically.

"Help us catch Brian and we will make sure that you get the minimal punishment that is available for you" Frank said.

"Minimal punishment? I've done nothing wrong" Nate said with a sigh as he looked out the window again.

"Nothing wrong, we got you for aiding and abetting a fugitive, obstruction of justice, vehicle tampering and assisting in a kidnapping. All together you're looking at about 25 years in prison." Frank huffed.

Nate raised his hands and cover is face and gave out a sigh before lowing his hands. "He came on to my lot this morning with a champagne color Hummer, said there was something wrong with the engine, wanted me take a look at it. I told him the pop the hood and I would take a look. I saw the GPS tracking units riddle everywhere, I back up looked at the side and saw the Miami Dade Police Department seal I told him to get the car off my lot." Nate paused and looked at Horatio "I swear I didn't know he kidnapped an police officer, the Hummer was empty when he brought it to me."

"Okay, can you tell me house's or other business's Brian might own or anywhere he might be?" Horatio asked.

Shaking his head, Nate looked at him "He has a house in Coral Gables and he just bought one West Palm Beach, that is all I really know."

"Okay, thank you, Frank can I have word."

Both Horatio and Frank stepped outside of the room looking at Nate who was playing with is fingernails.

"Do you believe him Horatio?"

"Not at all, so here is what we are going to do, have Ryan and Eric check out his place in Coral Gables, and then call West Palm Beach and have them check out his house there. I'll be in the AV lab if you need me."

Horatio and Frank went their separate ways, making his way over to the AV lab he couldn't help but to look over towards the break room. There he saw Calleigh walking around like a caged animal all riled up from being tormented all day by little kids. One small movement or word would set her off. He wasn't the only one that realized it; all of her co-workers saw it too. Normally the break room had at least 2 or 3 officers in it but no one dared to go in out of fear of what Calleigh would do. Lunches and dinners that were brought in or leftovers from earlier shifts just stayed there, and everyone found themselves going downstairs to the local cafe for coffee and dinner.

Horatio just continued on his path to the AV lab when he got an uneasiness, like someone was watching him. All he could was look down and smile to himself, he knew Calleigh was watching him, stalking his every move. Taking another glance back at the break room he saw that he was right, Calleigh was standing there glaring at him. Her eyes were dark green, her nostrils flared, jaw clenched shut and her arms crossed. He knew that she had hated him right now, but it would soon pass when they got Natalia back. But right now he knew to keep Calleigh from going on a rampage he had to find Natalia and fast.

Walking into the AV lab he saw Walter typing on the keyboard looking at the computer screen while Dave was in the back of room working on one of the severs.

"What do we have so far?" Horatio said walking over to Walter's side.

"Nothing H, the Dongle was used to hide his location, it's so heavily encrypted, it will take longer than 12 hours to break it." Walter sighed as he looked down at the timer, which was at 11 hours.

"Okay well it's 10 p.m. keep working and let me know if you get anything new. We need to find her before 8 a.m." Horatio said as he walked out of the AV lab.

* * *

><p>Half way across town Eric and Ryan were making their way to Coral Gables. Eric was driving while Ryan sat in the passenger seat looking out the window.<p>

Miami nightlife was just starting, the lights were bright and the streets were filling with young college students and workers looking for a cocktail with some friends. It seemed like everyone was out, expect Eric and Ryan.

The two men were stuck trying to save their missing teammate, so she too could enjoy the Miami nightlife at the end of a long shift.

The two drove in silence till Ryan finally said something. "Calleigh and Natalia... I never would have pegged them for being gay or bi."

"Yeah" Eric said in a low whisper, still thinking about everything that as going on. Eric still loved Calleigh and never really got over the fact that she dumped him.

In the back of his mind he always knew that she had feelings for Natalia. He would catch her looking longing at Natalia when she was in the DNA lab, or when they were at a crime scene. She was even upset that Natalia went to someone else to help her learn how to shoot. Then every night she was always going out to dinner or having drinks with friends, pretty much doing everything she could to avoid Eric.

She was always gone, both mentally and physically, Calleigh was always a touchy person but she slowly started to withdraw from Eric.

Till finally Eric confronted her, the two got into a huge argument that ended in Calleigh leaving Eric.

But with all turmoil aside, Eric knew that she should be happy and if Natalia could make her happy then so be it.

"So do you believe Brian? Or do you think they have been seeing each other longer than a year?" Ryan said.

Eric just shrugged as he continued to drive. "Man, two of the hottest women in the crime lab are dating each other." Eric said with groan "Not fair."

"Right."

The two men pulled up to Brian's house in Coral Gables, Eric looked at his phone and saw that Frank sent him a text saying they have a warrant for the house, by the time they got out of the hummer a patrol car came up with their warrant.

They knocked on the door and got no answer so they opened the front door, and began to search the house. Eric stayed downstairs while Ryan went upstairs.

Upstairs, Ryan came up short, there was nothing in all three of the bedrooms upstairs. But Eric on the other hand walked into the office and hit the jackpot, "Ryan, I found something" He yelled looking through files.

"What have you got?" Ryan said entering the room.

"He's real estate agent, Natalia could be anywhere." Eric said looking at another file.

"Anywhere in Miami or the state of Florida?"

"I'm thinking anywhere in this country. He has houses in Florida, Las Vegas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, New York, and Boston. He even has books here on how to fly planes, this isn't looking good." Eric said.

The two of the them spent 2 hours collected all the files in the office, and they were soon on their way back to the lab.

Eric and Ryan joined Horatio and Frank in the AV lab; Eric was about to say something when Calleigh walked in.

"Calleigh you know you can't be here." Horatio said

"Why, because this is personal case. Well guess what, she is a team member; she has been apart of this team for the past 5 years. It's a personal case for everyone here, the only difference is I'm in a relationship with her. So technically all of us should not be on this case."

The room was silent for a few moments before Eric spoke again. "Brian is a real estate agent with propriety that is all over this country. Natalia could be anywhere."

"Well we can narrow it down to only Florida." Walter said looking at one of files.

"No we can't" Calleigh said in cold tone.

"Why? He doesn't have time to move her, not to mention I think the airports would report a man with a hostage in a heartbeat." Walter added.

"One he has a private jet so moving her out of the state is not that hard for him. Two he has houses in L.A, Miami to L.A is a 5-hour plane ride. Natalia has been missing since 11 a.m. if not earlier; Brian didn't contact us till 8 in the evening. So she has been missing for 9 hours, she could be anywhere." Calleigh said with a still cold tone, never taking her eyes off the file in front of her.

* * *

><p>Some time later Natalia finally regained consciousness, even through she knew nothing would probably happen she had to move her hands. It was almost instinct, but what she wasn't counting on was her wrist almost sliding out of the duck tape.<p>

Natalia's head shot up when she realized that the tape was beginning to lose its stickiness. She knew it had to be due to the fact that she was sweating, and there was no air conditioning in the room that she was in.

Before she continued to wiggle her way out of the tape she looked around to see that she was all alone. A few more twists of her wrist and her hand slid right out.

With her hands in front of her, she stared at her ankles, which were still taped to the chair. She knew she couldn't make it very far on a shattered knee; she had no clue if she was really alone. Brian could have people downstairs keeping watch of the house while he was gone.

Natalia gave a sigh of defeat, until she looked up at the laptop. That was her answer, the laptop. She remembered one day a couple of weeks ago Dave, Walter and her were in the AV lab goofing around. She remembered Dave and Walter getting into a heated argument about the station's severs and how much they were lacking in the security department, which resulted in Dave giving them an intermediate course on how to hack.

She didn't need to be great at; she just needed to be okay. Her goal wasn't to be successful and get into the severs undetected, she wanted to get caught.

She knew that is was a bad idea untie her ankles, she didn't know when Brian was coming back. With her knee the way it was, she couldn't move as quickly as she could if he suddenly came back.

So she did the next best thing, she slowly and quietly slid the chair closer to the laptop. After the first scoot, she stopped and gave a loud and muffled groan when her kneecap reminded her that it was still shattered and still hurting.

Natalia tried her best to put the pain behind her, and continued on her mission to get the laptop that seemed to be miles away. But with each scoot the pain just got bigger and more noticeable.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity she was at the laptop. With a sigh she pushed the spacebar waking the laptop up from its sleep. Natalia began typing taking all the back doors that Dave showed her. In the middle of rewriting one of lines of code she pushed the control button the computer that turned on the web cam.

"Guys..." Walter said looking at computer screen.

Horatio and his team looked at the screen, and watched as Natalia was typing on the computer but she never made eye contact with web cam. She had more important things to worry about, like what was the difference between an if-else statement and a do while loop.

"What is she doing?" Walter said.

"I don't know, Walter" Horatio continued "Natalia? Can you hear us?"

Natalia didn't respond, she was struggling to remember everything that Dave was saying that day. But he was speaking technologic mambo jambo, and it was starting to go in one ear and out the other.

"Guess not" Eric said, as they watched as Natalia continue to type.

The further she made into the database the harder and longer the lines of code became. Till finally she couldn't go any further she needed to know binary and hex numbers along with ASCII code. She knew Dave talked about it, but by that time all she was hearing was white noise and just shaking her head yes while wondering what her blonde counterpart was up too.

Natalia had stopped typing and was deep in thought when a loud crash came from downstairs snapping Natalia out of her memories.

She exited out of the database and put the computer back to sleep. Trying her best to ignore the pain of her knee she took two giant scoots backwards so she was in the same spot as before. She managed to her slip her hands back into her duck tape bracelet, right when Brian came up the stairs.

"DAMN IT!" Eric yelled as he slammed his fist on the table. "What the hell was she doing?"

No one could answer Eric question, the room was silent and extremely tense. It was at that moment there was beeping noise coming from the back of room.

Dave walked over to the computer that was used to keep track of the stations severs; it was going crazy and throwing up screen after screen. It was making it hard for Dave to make sense of everything that was going on.

Dave was typing for a few minutes, till finally he gave a sigh and sat in a chair that was in the back.

"Dave?" Horatio said picking up on his sigh of defeat.

"Someone just tried to hack into our network here at the station."

"You mean Natalia?" Ryan said while putting his hands on his hips.

Dave just shrugged as he started typing on the computer again.

"Oh come on Dave it had to be Natalia!" Eric yelled. "We just watched her type on the computer for like 10 minutes, once she stops your computers go crazy. Anybody could tell that it was Natalia."

Emotions were running high, Natalia had been missing for over 12 hours now. It didn't help that much that the clues they were getting were nothing but dead ends. Nobody wanted to see Natalia downstairs on Tom's table being cut open and Brian still on the loose tormenting them.

"Look, I want to say that it was Natalia who was trying to hack the system. But I can't."

"Why?" Eric asked.

"Do you know how many times a day we get hacked, by kids and other countries? It's like 50 to 60 times everyday. When I got here there was really nothing in place to stop it or slow it down." Dave continued "So I created a program to let me know when someone is trying to get into our network. Unfortunately if they are not in the network I can't track them, I can only see the country, state and city."

"And?" Walter added.

Dave typed some more on the computer before he paused to say, "Miami Florida."

"I can try to do some reverse engineering and see if I can't give you a radius of where the computer is located."

For the first time in this whole case the team finally got some good news, knowing that Natalia could still be in the state as well as the city.

"It's going to be a long night." Walter said under his breath, looking at his watch to see it was eleven o'clock at night.


	7. Chapter 7

Natalia was sitting in the chair with her head down, when Brian walked passed her. He set a file down the table, and started to thumb through it. A few moments later he stopped and looked around desk, before turning around and staring at Natalia.

Natalia kept her head down refusing to make eye contact with Brian. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was starting to get heavier. She felt nervous, as the two occupied the room in complete silence.

She didn't need to look up at Brian to see what he was doing. She could feel his eyes staring her down. She closed her eyes and prayed that she wasn't busted; she prayed that maybe just maybe she did enough hacking to let the team know where she was.

She felt the tension go away when Brian gave a sigh and turned back around to face is folder. He made on quick note before he got out his cell phone to make a call. "I can't believe you are making me do this" Brian continued "I'll meet you there in an hour... Yes an hour... Because I have some other business I need to take care of first... Well the day you actually pay me on time, is the day I will put you first on my list... See you soon."

Brian woke the computer up from its sleep, and turned on the video chat see Horatio and his team standing there.

"Mister Falco, what do I owe for this unpleasant surprise?" Horatio asked.

Brian just smiled as she chewed a little on his cheek. "Maybe I didn't give you a clear explanation on what qualifies as cheating in our little game."

Horatio just tilted his head to the side waiting for Brian to give his answer.

"The goal of this game is find Natalia on your own, not have her help you. I mean that's not fair."

"I don't know what you are talking about Brian, she didn't help us."

Natalia heart sank a little when she heard this. She figured she didn't make it far enough into the network for them to find her. But then again Horatio could be lying, put Brian at ease and buying them sometime to get to where ever she was.

Brian walked up to Natalia's side, "Don't lie to me Horatio, there are drag marks from back here." Brian said taking a few steps behind Natalia, "To the laptop."

Natalia closed her eyes in defeat and looked down, to she that she was not in her original position. Busted was the only word that seemed to in her head.

Brian was now standing in front of Natalia when he turned to face her. "Which means two things, you can untie yourself and I can't trust you to sit still. Do you know what happens to people who don't set still?" Brian paused "Wait, why am I telling you, I'll just show you."

In one fluid motion, he backhanded Natalia across the face. Which caused her fall over in the chair.

"TALIA!" Calleigh screamed as she watched Natalia disappear to the floor.

There was a loud crack, and the sounds of the Natalia whimpering as chair along with her body weight crushed her right elbow.

Breathing heavily from the pain she was able to maneuver her hands and feet out of their duct taped restraints. She watched as Brian came up to her, she used her leg to kick Brian in the chest causing him to fall backwards.

As Brian fell backwards his hand hit the web cam causing it to hang from the table, while also allowing everyone in the AV lab to see the fight between Natalia and Brian.

Brian got back up and started to make his way over to Natalia, who was positioning herself to kick him again. Brian was able to knock her leg out of the way, and before Natalia could make her counter move she felt Brian dig his fingers into Natalia shattered knee. This made her stop what she was doing as she gave a loud muffled scream.

Brian climbed her body, just when he got eye level with her, he saw out of the corner of his eye that she was starting to raise her elbow. He let go of her knee and took her hands and put them above her head holding them there with one hand.

This didn't affect Natalia as she continued to squirm under Brian till he took out pepper spray from his back pocket and held centimeters away from Natalia's eyes. Natalia stopped moving and just looked at the pepper spray with wide eyes.

"Glad I got you attention, now it seems that he hit a fork in the road. Now I'm going to be nice and let you choose which road you want to take, even though each road leads you being retied." Brian let go of Natalia's hands and grabbed the duct tape from the table. "Now we can do this hard way were I empty this whole can into your eyes melting them out of their sockets, or you can be a good girl and just sit there and let me retie you? Which will it be?"

Natalia lifted her head and pointed the duct tape.

Brian gave a soft chuckle, "Your not as dumb as you look."

Everyone in the lab just watched in disgust as Natalia was dragged out of the frame. All they could hear was the sounds of Brian taping up Natalia before the camera was picked up and they could see Brian's face.

"9 hours lady and gentlemen." Brain said with a grin as he ended their connection.

"I can't be here right." Calleigh said as walked out the room with two of the files.

"Cal..." Eric started say.

"Eric just let her go, she'll be okay," Horatio continued. "Walter is right it's going to be a long night. So let's get to work."

Natalia was back to where she started, lying on a bed with her hands and feet taped together along with her mouth. She was physically and emotionally drained, she couldn't muster up enough energy to wiggle her way out of her newly tied restraints.

Natalia was just staring up at the motionless ceiling fan, she heard as Brian walked out the door, and when he started up his car and drove away. This was it, this was her chance to retry at her failed attempt to help Horatio, but nothing happened, just laid there.

Maybe she did successfully get caught hacking into the network at the station, and Horatio was just waiting for the right time to come and save her from the hell that she was now living in. Natalia looked over at the door for a few moments, nothing happened.

A combination of ones and zeros were the only things that were keeping her from getting rescued. To any person who knew computers they weren't just any combination, but to her they were. Two numbers...two numbers were the only thing that was keeping her heroine from breaking down that door and making Brian regret the day he thought it was a good idea to kidnap her.

Her heroine, even though it was masked by duct tape a smile came to her lips. She could picture her now, long golden hair flowing freely in the wind, her emerald green eyes that always seemed to have a sparkle to them. Followed up with her smile, that had to be Natalia's favorite part of Calleigh, her smile. To the rest of the lab her smile was as rare as a murder-less day in Miami, but Natalia got to see it all the time, it was always so intoxicating to her. She was pretty sure that Calleigh could get away with anything all she had to was flash that smile. The worst part was Calleigh knew this and always abused the hell out it.

Then there was her accent, that southern drawl that made everything sound so innocent. Natalia could hear her voice in her mind, which made her smile even more. All she wanted to do was be with her again, but those damn two numbers were keeping from that.

Natalia could feel herself slipping away from reality as her mind went deeper into her memories. The memories of her and Calleigh, her sisters Christine and Anya, playing her nieces and nephews...

_Choo-Choo...Choo-Choo..._

_A Spectrum Climax Clear Lake Lumber Co. 6 G was making it way around the track, looking like it was gain speed the more it went around. _

"_Help...Help...Someone help me..." a raspy voice said. _

"_Mwahahaha, looks no one is here to save you now!" said a young boy with tan skin, light freckles, brown eyes and caramel hair. _

"_Oh! Pepe how can you do this to me please let me go!" Natalia said pretending to be in distress, as she was lying on the toy train track lightly tied up. _

"_NEVER!" Pepe yelled. _

"_PEPE! Your time has come, I have come to stop you and save Tia Natalia!" a boy that was slightly older than Pepe but more or the less a spitting image of him yelled. _

"_Not this time Fernando, I have accomplishes" Pepe said with his head held high. Right as he finished his statement two other boys jumped out to join Pepe. _

"_Nicolas and Jorge I should have know" Fernando continued "Well I have accomplishes to." And with that two girls jumped out right behind him. _

_To anyone looking in they could tell that all six kids had to be brother and sister, and could very well be Natalia's children. _

"_Get them!" Pepe yelled as he dove behind the couch, and before they knew it Natalia's living room was being showered with yellow, orange and green Nerf gun bullets. _

"_I've been hit!" Nicolas shouted as he pretended to be wounded by the Christmas tree. _

"_Me too!" Isabel said as she tried to crawl behind the loveseat but failed when she got hit again. _

"_Uggggghhhhh" Gabriela said as she spun around and fell to the floor. _

"_Well Well Well Fernando, It's me and Jorge versus you, looks like I win again," Pepe said with a smile. _

"_I'm not going down without a fight," Fernando said as he lifted his gun and fired, but nothing came out. "Uh oh" he said as he looked at his gun. _

_Pepe and Jorge smiled at each other, before slowly coming out of cover. "Any last words?" _

_All Fernando did was just smile at them. _

"_What's so funny? Pepe has 18 bullets left and I have 6, you have 0." Jorge said with a look of confusion. _

"_I still haven't used my secret weapon" Fernando said. _

"_Oh yeah, what's that?" Pepe asked. _

"_Me!" a voice said coming from the office door away. There standing in the doorway dressed in dark blue jeans, a black button down shirt with the sleeve's rolled up and a black cowboy hat on holding two Nerf guns was Calleigh. _

"_Sheriff Calleigh!" Pepe and Jorge said in unison looking at each before looking back at Calleigh. _

_Calleigh lightly tossed one of her guns over to Fernando, and the two of them proceeded to fire upon Pepe and Jorge. Fernando rolled over behind the loveseat while Calleigh took cover behind the entrance wall. _

_Fernando hit Jorge, and Jorge went down yelling that he got hit before hitting Fernando several times himself. _

_The room was quiet expect for Fernando how was pretending to be breathing heavily because he was dying. "I've been hit Sheriff Calleigh" he said in a weak low voice. _

_Calleigh rushed to his side, "Don't you worry, we will get you fixed up and you'll be back on your feet in no time," Calleigh said. _

_Fernando shook his head, "Don't worry about me, if you go now we can still save Tia Natalia." He said before closing his eyes. _

_Calleigh stood up and rushed over to Natalia, right before the train made it her elbow Calleigh picked Natalia up. _

_She walked back to the hallway entrance with Natalia in her arms, when they heard Pepe's voice. " You may have won this time Sheriff Calleigh, but I'll be back!" Pepe said before running into the kitchen. _

"_Oh Sheriff Calleigh, you rescued me! How will I ever repay you?" Natalia said with a smile on her face. _

_Calleigh held back the witty remark because of the kids and just said, "It's all apart of the job ma'am" in a thick southern accent. _

"_Oh Sheriff Calleigh!" Natalia said again as buried her face in Calleigh's neck, before she leaned up and kissed her. _

_Natalia had kissed Calleigh on the lips; Natalia was about to pull away when she felt Calleigh initiate another one. _

"_EWW! Tia Calleigh that is how you get cooties!" Nicolas said. _

"_Yeah! Kissing girls is gross!" Fernando said raising his head. _

"_No, I think it's romantic. Tia Calleigh saved Tia Natalia from the evil Pepe, and in every romantic story the hero is suppose to kiss the dismal in distress" Gabriela said. _

_Fernando was about to say something when Christine walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. _

"_Who wants a Christmas cookie?" she said holding a plate. _

"_CHRISTMAS COOKES!" the five kids shouted in unison while rushing over to their mother..._


	8. Chapter 8

Calleigh had been driving around in her Hummer for hours; she didn't know were she was going or what she was looking for. She was just driving, listening to Natalia's iPod trying to fight back her tears.

Calleigh looked down at the clock and saw that it was 6 in the morning; she hadn't gotten a call from Horatio or anyone else on the team. So in her mind Natalia was till missing, _'only two more hours' _she thought to herself.

That thought was the last straw for Calleigh, she pulled the Hummer over and her head fell into her hands and the waterworks began.

For 15 minutes Calleigh sat on the side of the road crying till finally she was able to pull herself back together. Adjusting her make up she told herself that she was ready to face what was going on back at the lab, so she put the car in drive and started to drive again.

Another 15 minutes later Calleigh found herself knocking on a door of a Spanish style house in an upper middle class neighborhood.

After a few moments the door opened and before Calleigh had time to register the person at the door, she found herself tackled by four boys, two girls screaming "TIA CALLEIGH!"

Calleigh dropped down to one knee and gave all six of the kids hug at the same time. With the feel of the their hugs around her body giving her so much love and attention at once, finally made her relax just a little bit.

Gabriela was the first one to let go; she looked out doorway and then turned back to Calleigh. "Tia Calleigh? Where is Tia Natalia?" she asked.

Once Gabriela asked that question, the rest of the kids let go and just looked at Calleigh.

"Mom and Tia Anya have been in the kitchen all night crying. We heard them saying at Tia Natalia ran away." Fernando continued "Did you hurt her like Tio Nick did?"

"FERNANDO?" Christine yelled. All six of the kids froze and turned back to face their mother. "How dare you ask that question to Calleigh!"

"No, it's okay" Calleigh started "No, Fernando I didn't hurt her like Tio Nick, I could never hurt her like that."

"Go upstairs and get ready for school, I have to talk to Tia Calleigh alone" Christine said pointing upstairs.

The kids went upstairs while Calleigh followed Christine to the kitchen were she saw Alex, Christine's husband and Anya sitting at the table. "Tell me you found her?" Anya said with tears flowing down her eyes.

"Yes and No. We know who has her and we know she is still alive right now, but we don't know where she is."

"Who is this person? Who is the sick bastard that has my wife's little sister?" Alex said in a stern voice.

"You know I can't tell you that." Calleigh said

"Cal, please. It's Talia we are talking about." Christine said.

Calleigh bit her lower lip and sighed they were right it was their sister and who knows maybe they could be of some help, "His name is Brian Falco his a real estate agent with houses and business up for sale around the country... She could be anywhere."

Alex and Christine exchanged looks before Alex got up and went into his office. A few moments later Alex came back with a card. "Is this the man?" Alex said handing Calleigh the card.

Calleigh eyes got wide when she looked at the card to see Brian's picture, "Where?" Calleigh started to say.

"Brian was the one that got us this house, he is in the process of helping us find a summer home in the Keys." Alex continued, "It's him isn't it?"

Calleigh didn't say anything, but then again it wasn't like she hiding her facial expressions. "I have to go," she said as she started to walk out the kitchen. Stopping at the doorway she turned back around to face Alex, Christine and Anya. "Promise me that you guys won't do anything stupid by looking for him. From the few times that we have been in contact with him I can tell he has a temper, and anything could set him off. So please I beg you don't go looking from him."

Calleigh took a minute to look at each of them; once they agreed not to go looking for him Calleigh was out the door. Reaching in her back pocket she go out her cell phone and called Horatio as she got into her Hummer.

* * *

><p>For the past 5 hours Horatio and everyone back at the lab were working hard at trying to locate Natalia. Horatio, Frank, Ryan and Eric had been looking thru the files found at Brian's house. Dave and Walter were working together on trying to find out the exact location of the computer that tried to hack them earlier.<p>

All of them had been coming up empty handed, right when they thought there was no hope of finding Brian and Natalia Horatio got a phone call from Calleigh.

"Canie... Calleigh... Where are you?... Did you find anything there?... Really...Okay Tripp and I will meet you there." Horatio hung up the phone and looked over to the guys. "Calleigh might have the break that we have been looking for. Keep working guys and I'll fill you in when I get back." The guys shook their heads and watched as Horatio and Frank walked into the elevator.

20 minutes later Horatio and Frank meet Calleigh outside of Brickell real estate agency. "Calleigh, how did you find this place?" Horatio asked as they made their way to entrance.

"Christine and Alex said that Brian was their real estate agent and that he helped them get the house they have now and that he was in the process of helping them find a summer home. They gave his card." Calleigh said as she handed Horatio the card.

Horatio continued to study the card as the three of them made their way into the office. "Hello, welcome to Brickell real estate. How can I help you?" a young lady said from the behind the counter.

"We need to talk to who ever is in charge here." Calleigh said looking around, "Horatio" she said pointing over to the corner.

Horatio looked over to see Brian's office, his door was open because the cleaning lady was dusting his desk and emptying the trash. Horatio grabbed Calleigh's kit and with Frank by his side the two men walked into Brian's office.

A few minutes later a young man came out from the back room. He had blonde hair and was wear a red dress shirt with a white tie and black slacks on. "Hello, I'm Jeremy Glass, the manger how can I help? He said sticking his hand out.

Calleigh shook his hand and smiled, "Hello Mr. Glass, I'm Calleigh Duquesne with the Miami crime lab. I have a few question about one of your employees, Brian Falco."

"He is one of our best agents, he is on a semi vacation right now."

"Semi vacation?"

Jeremy gave a weak smile, "Sorry, let me explain. He took all of this week off for a real vacation, and next week he will be in New York for conference."

Calleigh shook her head and glanced over to Horatio and Frank who were now talking to the cleaning lady. "You're office seems pretty empty right now, when do your workers start showing up for work?"

"My agents aren't required to come into the office, they can work at home if they please. Plus this is a real estate company, majority of my agents are out in the field showing houses. As long as they get their work I don't complain."

"Do you know if Brian operates from another location?"

Jeremy paused to think about Calleigh's question, "I think he has three other locations that he works from."

"That's great do you know them?"

"I believe I have them written down in my office, if you hold on for one moment I can get them for you."

"Please," Calleigh said as she motioned from him to go get the list.

Jeremy disappeared to his office for only a few moments before he returned with a paper that had three different addresses on them. "Is everything okay, is Brian in trouble?" Jeremy asked as he hand the paper over to Calleigh.

Calleigh just sighed, "I'm not at liberty to say," she said as she studied the list.

"Horatio," Calleigh said as she waved for the boys to come over. "Thank you for time."

"Anytime, if you need anymore information, just let me know." Jeremy said with a look of concern.

Horatio was now holding on to the paper, as the three of them walked outside to their cars. "It would seem that he uses Nate's car shop for a place of business as well as his own house, but I don't recognize this last address."

"Nate? As in Nate Mulder." Frank said as he put his hands on hips, "This kid is seriously starting to piss me off."

Horatio just gave a smile as he got his phone, "Well Frank, you can act out your revenge because you and I will be going over that car shop with a fine tooth comb. Calleigh I want you go the last address on the list, you're looking for anything out of place. I'm going to call Eric and have him and Ryan go back to his house at Coal Gables. Natalia has to be at one of these places."

Horatio and Frank went to Frank's squad car while Calleigh went to her Hummer, and soon after everyone made their way to their new destinations.

* * *

><p>"<em>These Christmas cookies are so good mom just like always," Pepe said before looking over to see Calleigh still holding Natalia in her arms. <em>

"_Come on Tia Natalia and Tia Calleigh, come have cookies with us." Gabriela said waving them over. _

_Calleigh set Natalia down and the two of them made there way over and grabbed cookies from Christine. Christine looked around the living room and shook her head "I'm going back to the kitchen for a few moments, when I get back this living room better be as clean as when we first got here. Or else I'm calling Santa and telling not stop by here because I have six naughty children." _

_Their eyes got big and before Calleigh and Natalia knew it the kids were running around cleaning Natalia's living room. _

"_Wow, that was fast. It only took them like 87 seconds to clean this room." Calleigh said as she took a seat next to Natalia who was seating on the couch. _

_A few minutes later Natalia and Calleigh were joined in the living room with the kids, Anya, Christine and Alex. _

_For the next two hours the kids bombarded Calleigh and Natalia with information about all of their after school activities. They even tried to teach Calleigh one of their cheers, 'the right shift 47'. _

_Finally Natalia stretched her arms with a yawn before she looked at her watch. "It's 11:30 already, I sure hope Santa doesn't pass this house because there are children in house that are up past their bed time." _

_Calleigh couldn't help but smile and join in on the fun with Natalia, "I'm pretty sure I heard sleigh bells down the street not to long ago." _

_Christine didn't get the chance to say anything because the kids were running upstairs to get ready for bed. _

"_You're lucky that it Christmas eve, because getting them to go to bed on time is no easy task." Alex said with a smile. _

"_Okay Alex," Natalia said with a soft chuckle as she patted him on the back and made her way to garage to help Christine get out all the toys. _

"_I'm just sayin', they can be evil. If you ever want to take them off our hands for a weekend or two be my guest." Alex said as he leaned to grab a cookie. _

"_Maybe," was the only response he got, as she set down two big bags filled with toys. "Cal, you want to make sure the kids are in their room?" _

"_Sure, no problem." She said as she got up and walked upstairs. _

_Once she got upstairs she could hear giggling coming from the far guest bedroom, Calleigh popped her head in to see the kids laying in bed laughing. "What's so funny?" Calleigh asked with a perplex look on her face. _

_The kids were silent. _

"_Okay, Calleigh said with a grin. "Did you guys wash your faces and brush your teeth?"_

"_Yes, Tia Calleigh." they said in unison. _

_Calleigh took a moment to study their faces, "Okay, just remember that your Tia and I work in a crime lab and can test your toothbrushes to see if you have been using them at night."_

"_Really?" Pepe asked. _

"_Yep, only takes 97 seconds to test it." Calleigh said with a knowing face as the walked out the door. _

_The kids were quiet for a few moments before Pepe spoke again, "I think we should start brushing our teeth before we go to bed from now on." _

_The rest of the kids just shook their heads agreeing with him. _

_Calleigh walked into the master bedroom to change into her pajamas before returning downstairs to help Natalia, Anya and Christine clean and set up the toys under the tree. _

_An hour later, once everything was set up Anya went upstairs to go to sleep, and Calleigh and Natalia soon followed her. _

_Calleigh glanced down the hallway to see two of the three bedroom doors were closed and the lights were off. Taking a step into the room she could see that bed was messed up with six tiny bodies hiding under the sheets. _

_Natalia walked in after Calleigh and looked over to the bed and smiled. "Hmm, Calleigh, I just came from the kids room and they aren't in there. Have you seen them?"_

"_No, I haven't Natalia," Calleigh said with a smile. _

_As the two made their way further into Natalia room the split up, with Calleigh going to her left and Natalia going over to her right. _

"_Maybe they are hiding... In the bathroom?" Natalia said as she walked into the bathroom and looked around for a few seconds. "Nope, not in here." _

"_I think I know were they are, the closet." Calleigh opened the closet door and glanced around for a few seconds before she huffed. "I guess I was wrong."_

_Once Calleigh said that they both heard giggling coming from the bed. _

"_Nat, did you hear that?" Calleigh said with surprise. _

"_I did, it sounded like it was coming from the bed." Natalia said as both her and Calleigh slowly walked on opposites of the bed. _

"_Nat, I think they are hiding under the bed," Calleigh whispered. _

_Both women got on their knees, looking over at each other Calleigh whispered. "On the count of three." _

_Calleigh counting down from the three and they simultaneously lifted the sheets up and looked under the bed. _

_Standing back up and scratching her head Natalia said, "Their not there, were could they be?" _

"_We're right here!" they said in unison lifting the covers. _

_Calleigh up her hands on her hips, "you guys are sure good hider, I was getting scared that we might have lost you there." _

"_Don't be silly Tia Calleigh we would never run away from two of the coolest Tia's in the world" Fernando said. _

"_Well that is good to know" Calleigh said as she climbed into the California king size bed with Natalia and the kids. _

_Calleigh was lying on her back when Pepe and Jorge climb on her chest and had Nicolas curled up under Calleigh's arm next to Isabel. While Gabriela climbed on Natalia's chest with Fernando under her arm. _

"_Tia Natalia you forgot to read us the Twas' the Night before Christmas. We can't go to sleep without hearing that." Isabel said. _

"_I'm so sorry I forgot. Okay... Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." _

_As Natalia kept talking one by one the kids and Calleigh fell asleep. It was 1:30 in the morning when Alex and Christine finished with everything downstairs. Natalia and Calleigh left their door open; Christine was walking to her room when she looked in Natalia's room to see her, Calleigh and kids sleeping on her bed. Christine smiled and whispered to Alex to bring the camera up with him. _

_A few minutes later he was upstairs with the camera "Why do you want the cam..." he trailed off with a wide grin when he looked in Natalia's room. _

_Christine took two pictures hoping that the flash would not wake them; lucky for her the eight of them did not stir. _

"_Calleigh and Natalia would make great parents, don't you think?" Christine whispered. _

"_Yeah, they are great with kids. But if they have kids they will need a bigger bed" Alex said with a chuckle. _

_For Calleigh and Natalia it seemed like they had just closed their eyes, when they were shaken awake, to find the kids jumping on the bed screaming "Its Christmas!"_

"_Come on sleepy heads, it's Christmas, we can't open presents till everyone is awake." Alex said standing the doorway. _

"_You guys better go wake up Tia Anya then" Natalia said rubbing her eyes. _

_With that the only thing that was heard was footsteps running down the hall to wake up Anya. _

_Alex went downstairs to join Christine while Calleigh and Natalia just sat in bed. "Merry Christmas beautiful" Natalia said as she leaned over and gave Calleigh a nice slow passionate kiss. _

_Calleigh found herself leaning forward causing Natalia to lean back as she the continued to kiss. Calleigh had positioned herself between Natalia's legs, Calleigh finally pulled back to breathe and just stared into Natalia's warm chocolate eyes. "Now it's a Merry Christmas," she whispered. "We should probably get go downstairs, before we get attacked again. Plus I don't want to get cooties, I have work tomorrow" Calleigh said with grin as she rolled off Natalia. _

"_Who said I'm the one with cooties missy?" Natalia said in shock. _

"_The boys, I mean it is four to one," Calleigh said as she shrugged and walked downstairs. _

_Natalia was close behind when she was forced to stop when six kids rushed downstairs with wide eyes when they saw all the toys. For the next few minutes the kids argued about which toys were theirs. _

"_Come on guys you know traditions. We need to pick out whose going be Santa before we open gifts." Christine scolded._

"_Tia Calleigh, because it's her first Christmas with us" Gabriela said. _

"_I think that's a good idea" Alex said handing Calleigh the Santa hat. _

_Calleigh took the hat and put it on giving Natalia a confused looked. _

"_You get to pass out presents to everyone" Natalia whispered. _

"_Ohhh" Calleigh said as she got and walked to the tree and began to pass out presents to everyone. _

_Calleigh and Natalia watched as the kids, Anya, Christine and Alex opened their presents laughing and playing with them._

_Calleigh put her arm around Natalia and gave a sigh, "You know I can't help you anymore Nat." _

_Natalia lifted her and looked at Calleigh confused, "What are you talking about?" _

"_This memory, I know its one of your favorites. Our first Christmas together, the fact that your family accepts us. The kids call me Tia, this is probably the happiest you have been in a long time. Which is way when things get tough, you always seem to go back to it." _

"_I get that this is a memory, and yes it's my favorite one. But what I don't get is how you were helping me."_

_Calleigh gave a weak smile, "Think about it Nat, nothing in this memory seemed odd to you?" _

_Natalia just stared off into the distance trying to think. _

_Calleigh was now looking straight ahead when she spoke again, " First Jorge saying how many bullets he and Pepe had. Then when the kids were picking up the living room, I said it took them at 87 seconds to clean, kind of an odd number don't you think? The kids taught me the right shift 47; you and I both know that doesn't exist. Then last but not least I told the kids it will take us 97 seconds to test their toothbrushes to see if they have been brushing their teeth." _

_Natalia sat up straight and was know looking forward just like Calleigh. It was as if she was hit with a ton of bricks, "Add A with 18 and 6, Clear A with 87, then shift the right with 47 and then Test A with 97. That's what I was missing earlier, that is missing syntax..."_

Natalia slowly opened her eyes, and looked around the room. The sun was starting to come up, and Brian was nowhere to be found.

Taking a deep breath she managed to maneuver her hands in front of her body, she had Calleigh to thank for that, all the yoga sessions that she would drag her to.

With her hands in front of her she started to remove the tape around her ankles. A few minutes later she completely removed the tape. She then moved on to trying to bite the tape off from around her wrist, after another few moments of getting nowhere she just gave up.

Standing up on her feet, she took a few moments to let herself get use to the pain from her knee. Once she could handle the pain she slowly limped her way over to the laptop.

She started typing on laptop, but this time things were going a little bit faster seeing how she had did this once before. When finally made to the part were she failed earlier, she typed the code that came to her memories.

With a smile on her face, she watched as the laptop started lag, all there was left to do now was wait. Wait for the hidden message that Dave had set up in the networks severs.

* * *

><p>Back in the AV lab, Dave and Walter were going over different algorithms to help figure out who tried to hack into the lab earlier.<p>

The two sat in silence, when the computer in the back started beeping again. "Man, that is like the one millionth time that thing has gone off. How do you put up with it all day?" Walter sighed.

"Usually I just mute, if it is a real threat then that computer will override the big screen to let me know. I decided to leave the sound on just incase Natalia is trying to reach out to us."

Walter looked at the timer to see they only had 20 more minutes till the clock reached zero. "Man, I don't think I have been in this much pressure since my last semester of college." he sighed as he continued to write in his notebook.

Silence took over the room once more, the two worked for a few more minutes when the big computer screen went black.

Both men looked up at the screen with blank expressions, "Please tell me that its about to go into a screen saver," Walter said.

"Sorry Walter, the big screen is not set up to go into a screen saver." Dave continued, "Do you think Brian is trying to contact us again?"

"I hope not," Walter said as he grabbed his radio.

Before Walter could say anything a message popped up on the screen _'Unauthorized user in network, waiting for confirmation.'_

"Waiting for confirmation, what does that mean?"

"It's kind of like a virus, I can't locate the computer without my program. So they need to download it.

"Great, what's the message? You're trying to hack into the Miami Dade Police Department server. Will you download this program so we can find and arrest you?" Walter yelled sarcastically.

"I realize that this is a tense situation, with Natalia missing and we are running down to the last wire but your sarcasm is not needed."

"Sorry, stressfully 24 hours. So how is this person going to download your program without them knowing?"

"Well the minute they access the server a cookie gets downloaded on their computer. It searches the computer for frequently used programs, once it finds one, it will then mask itself as an update for that program. You're not going to turn down an update for a program, so when they click the update button they are not really updating their software they are downloading my program to locate them."

Walter turned to face Dave, "Does Natalia know this? I mean she could exit out of it, you know she may actually think that its a real software update and close the tab."

Dave shook his head yes, "I told her about it and I even showed her what the message looks like."

Walter just shook his head before turning back around and looking at the screen, "Come on BV, click accept." He said under is breath.


	9. Chapter 9

Natalia smiled to herself when she saw a software update appear on the screen. It was telling her that iChat needed to be updated. The window didn't say what version it was replacing the old one with, and like most updates it didn't say that it would restart the computer once completed.

She knew that this was Dave's hidden message so she clicked accept.

Once Dave and Walter saw that accept was hit, Walter got on his radio and gave everyone the heads on what was going on.

'_Confirmation accepted... Connecting to wireless...Preparing for download... Download started...1%' _

Natalia was shaking her leg, out of all the times she had downloaded something it always seemed to go fast, but right now it seemed like the computer was taking it's time. "Come on" Natalia said with a sigh.

'_5%'_

"You have got to be kidding me right now." Natalia said. She clicked on the upper right side of the screen to check the Internet connection she found out why it was going so slow.

Brian didn't have wireless Internet where she was; he was stealing someone else's. The connection that she was on only had 40% signal strength.

Walter and Dave were in the lab; just watching the screen as it slowly downloaded the IP address.

"It's been on 90% for the past like 5 minutes." Walter growled.

"It just hit 90% like two seconds ago, relax Walter."

Walter legs were crossed and shaking while his hand was tipping on the table. He gave a frustrated sigh as the bar jumped to 95% ... 96%.

Finally Walter's patients snapped. "Come on...COME ON!" Walter yelled slamming his fists on the desk.

"Walter calm down!" Dave said looking over to Walter.

"Well make it go faster!"

"I can't! Part of the download is based off of her Internet connection which must be slow, I'm sorry but this is the speed we are stuck at!"

97%...98%...99%... scanning IP address... ... 8955 NW 107th Avenue, Doral

"Walter!" Dave said pointing at the screen.

Walter jumped and reached for his radio. "Guys! You need to go to 8955 NW 107th Avenue, Doral!" The line was silent; he paused thinking that no one heard so he repeated himself.

"Walter, you need to calm down!" Dave shot back.

"Calm down!... Calm down, we are dealing with a serial killer that has given us a 12 hour window. We don't have much time!" Walter yelled.

Walter grabbed the radio again and was about to say something when a whiskey voice that was usually calm and collected begin shouting back. "Canie and Tripp heading south on Hialeah Hia Gardens Blvd, ETA 30 minutes.

A few minutes later Eric's voice filled the room "Delko and Wolfe, heading east on 74th Street ETA 10 minutes."

Followed by "Duquesne! On the corner of 58th and 107th ETA 5 minutes!"

Calleigh's foot stomped to ground and she pushed her hummer to its limits. She was going 110 down 107th weaving in and out of traffic. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She screamed slamming her hands on the steering wheel.

Calleigh was in the left lane when an old lady cut in her lane, taking up both lanes causing Calleigh move into oncoming traffic.

Her eyes got wide as she came face to face with a semi truck that was the honking horn and flashing its high beams.

Everything for Calleigh was like instant slow motion; she couldn't move right back into traffic because it was being blocked with other cars. Leave it to Florida drives to continue on their daily driving routine even when a cop car is blaring their sirens. It's not like she is trying to get to an emergency.

Calleigh took a deep breath, as she couldn't see on the other side of the truck all she could do was hope that there was no on coming traffic on the other side of the truck.

She swerved into the other lane of on coming traffic at the last minute. Once she got into the that lane all the other cars around the semi truck stopped moving allowing her weave thru them and merge back to the right side of the road.

After a few more blocks, Calleigh made a hard left into the address that Walter had given her. At first Calleigh was shocked that she able to make such a hard left turn without flipping over the Hummer, but that feeling quickly turned to panic when she realized that address Walter gave was to a condominium complex.

* * *

><p>Natalia was still playing on Brian's computer; she was debating whether or not to change her Internet connection, to a local coffee shop that she was able to find.<p>

The signal strength was stronger but she ran the risk of losing all the progress that she had already made. She was so deep in thought, she never heard Brian's car pull up to the condo. The mouse was hovering over the new connection as Brian made his way upstairs to her room.

"What are you doing bitch!" Brian said from behind Natalia. Natalia turned around from the laptop and was greeted with punch to face causing her jaw her break. Natalia lost her balance for a second before she regained her composer, she looked over to see Brian take another swing but Natalia lifted her arms. His hand snagged against her bonded hands causing the duck tape to rip, freeing her hands.

Natalia stood on her own two feet; her pain subsided from the rush of adrenaline. She took another swing but missed and fell to ground. "That is it, I'm going to kill you" Brian said.

He took out a gun and walked to Natalia, he leaned over her just as he did this Natalia raised her head, head-butting him. This caused him to drop the gun, Natalia grabbed the gun and fired only there was nothing but clicking. "Shit" she said under her breath, so she turned the gun around and hit him square in the temple knocking him out.

Natalia stood on her feet and made her way to the stairs, she took the first step on the stairs and felt her knee give way and she came crashing down the first flight slamming her head on the ground knocking her out as well.

* * *

><p>Calleigh got out of the Hummer; she looked around with her hand on her forehead. She took a deep breath before grabbing her radio. "Walter, it's a condominium complex, which one is she in?"<p>

Walter paused and looked over to Dave, who was typing and clicking on the computer. "DAVE!"

"I'm working on it!" he shot back.

"In case you forgot, Natalia is in the hands of man who is not afraid to kill her _before_ time runs out."

"Okay, Okay... she's in 225!"

"Calleigh, it's 225!" Walter repeated back.

"225," Calleigh said to herself. She threw the radio back into the Hummer and then took off in a dead sprint kicking off her heels in the process. She followed the signs pointing to condo's 210 - 250 without waiting for backup to arrive.

It felt as if Calleigh had been running for forever. Just as she rounded to the corner, she could see from her peripheral vision that her back up officers were just now turning to run down the long stretch of condos that she just flew by.

'221...223...225!' Calleigh said to herself, without even waiting for backup to catch up with her she kicked down the front door. "MIAMI DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT! IF THERE IS ANYBODY HERE IDENTIFY YOURSELF NOW!" Calleigh shouted with her gun drawn.

Natalia gave a light groan as she came too; she rolled over to her side and used the stair's hand railing to help lift herself up. It took her a few seconds before she was finally standing up with her back leaned up against the wall panting. She was trying to find the strength and energy to walk down the second flight of stairs.

"You dumb bitch, why must you make everything so complicated." Brian said as he came down the first flight of stairs. "Since I can't shoot you..." He said as she took out a knife from his back pocket. He lunged forward and tried to stab Natalia but she able to move out of the in time.

Brian grinned and shook his as he tried again to stab her and once again Natalia was able to move out of the way, but this time she lifted her leg with the shattered kneecap and pushed Brian backwards.

She gave a light groan from the pain, as hit the wall and slid down the first couple of steps.

Calleigh was still downstairs looking around, she had cleared the living room and kitchen and was walking around the dining room when she a loud thud coming from upstairs. Once again without even thinking or waiting for backup she rushed upstairs ignoring all the other rooms.

When Calleigh made it upstairs she made a right turn and started to walk down the hallway, right as Ryan and Eric entered the house.

"Quit fucking around, and just let me kill you!" Brian said as he stood up quickly, too quickly for Natalia to make her next move. He grabbed her right shoulder and stabbed her in stomach.

Natalia's eyes got wide as she felt warm liquid run down the rest of her stomach and on to her hands which were right under the knife.

Natalia was just staring at Brian as she tried to remember how to breathe, she opened to her mouth to say something, but right as she did the door at the bottom of the stairs flew open.

"NATALIA!" Calleigh screamed, as a single shot rang out throughout the house.

In that split second when Calleigh opened the door, she found her target and shot. She was trained to shoot a suspect in a non-vital area of the body, but when she saw that Brian had stabbed Natalia rage and anger set in. Not only did she mange to shoot him, she shot him in the head killing him instantly.

Natalia was looking straight ahead, breathing heavily as she slowly slid down to the floor.

"Oh God, Nat." Calleigh said with tears in her eyes as she ran up the stairs to Natalia. "HELP! I NEED A MEDIC RIGHT NOW!" she shouted.

Calleigh didn't know what she should do with her heads, all she wanted to do was hold Natalia in her arms, but her police training told her not to touch her.

Calleigh was just sitting over Natalia who was cling on to life when Eric and Ryan came. Eric went to Calleigh's side while Ryan went to check on Brian.

"WE NEED A MEDIC NOW!" Eric yelled as he kneeled right beside Calleigh. "She'll be okay," he whispered as he put an arm around her.

It only took seconds before Natalia was put on a stretched and was being loaded into the ambulance.

Calleigh was about to step in when a paramedic stopped her, "Ma'am I can't let you in there," he said.

Calleigh just shot him a glare, and he immediately back down and let her in. Once in the ambulance Calleigh sat there holding Natalia's hand watching as the paramedic did everything in his power to make sure that the knife in Natalia's stomach didn't move.

"Cal..." Natalia said in a soft whisper.

"Hey, I'm here, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere I promise." Calleigh said coming closer.

Natalia was about to say something, but stopped when started to cough up blood for a few seconds before losing consciousness.

"Damn it Paul, I think knife nicked her Aorta... speed it up!" The paramedic said.

"I'm doing my best, we are about two minutes out!" Paul yelled back.


	10. Chapter 10

Horatio, Frank, Walter, Eric and Ryan beat the ambulance to Jackson Memorial Hospital. They rushed in the front entrance of the hospital and surrounded the receptionist, each of them talking a mile a minute trying to find out if Natalia was there yet, and what floor she was on.

The young man behind the desk couldn't get a word in because the five of them would not stop talking. Right as they stopped talking waiting for an answer, the double doors flew open on the left side of room.

They watched as Alexx Woods ran across the room and burst threw another set of double doors. Without hesitation the five men took off after her. They knew the only reason why she would be running threw the hospital was she got wind of what happened to Natalia. She might not be their M.E. anymore, but she still loved and cared for them like family.

They were two feet behind her as she rushed thru the general emergency room passing beds, nurses and other doctors. They made to a larger set of double doors that went outside to the ambulance loading bay.

There wasn't much time for talking because the minute Alexx ran outside Natalia's ambulance was there. "How's my baby doing?" Alexx said as her and a team of other doctors and nurses started running back down the same hall.

"Let's see her name is name is Natalia Boa Vista, 35 year old female. She was stabbed in the lower stomach, and has got a gunshot wound to the knee, a broken elbow and a broken jaw." The paramedic continued as ran to keep up with Alexx. " I think the knife nicked her aorta, she was stable till a few minutes ago. I started an IV and hooked her up to the heart rate monitor."

That was all the paramedic could say because not to long after he spoke Natalia's monitor started beeping like crazy. "Her vitals are dropping." a nurse said "BP is 86 over 10... her pulse is dropping... we are losing her!"

"Natalia you hang in there baby girl," Alexx said as they turned to go down another hallway. "I'm taking the first operating room I see, if other doctors have a problem with that I will deal with them later." she said with a raised voice.

As they entered the surgical wing of the hospital Horatio and boys were stopped, while Calleigh managed to slip by. She was still holding her hand until they pushed her into operating room.

Calleigh was about to walk in when Alexx stopped her, "Please," Calleigh whimpered.

"Look honey, she is in my hands now, I promise I will do everything I can to bring her back to you. Now in order for me to save her life I can't have you in there getting in the way and asking questions every two seconds. So Calleigh." Alexx said looking her in the eye.

Tears were rolling down Calleigh's face as she swallowed hard and shook her head "Okay." She said in a soft whisper.

Alexx left Calleigh and walked into the scrub room to get ready for surgery. Right before the doors closed to the operating room Calleigh saw as the nurses and doctors from before lifting Natalia's body from the stretcher to the operating table.

As hard as Calleigh tried to fight it, she couldn't anymore. She turned around and started crying.

The boys were still standing at the entrance of the surgical wing, watching as Calleigh was crying. It was unusual for them to see her actually crying, she such a strong independent woman that never seemed to get emotional.

"It's been a long night so I'm going to get some coffee," Eric said as she turned to walk down the hall.

"Wait up Eric, I'll join you." Ryan said running to catch up with him.

Walter looked at Calleigh then over to Horatio, "Coffee seems like a good idea right now."

"I'm going to call Christine and Anya, let them know we found Natalia and that she is in the hospital." Frank said as she turned around and pulled out his cell phone.

Horatio just nodded and watched as one by one the boys left. He looked over to Calleigh one last time before joining the other in the waiting room allowing Calleigh to have time to herself.

It took Calleigh a little while to get herself together, but when she finally did she joined the others in the waiting room.

She was pacing back and forth, looking at the clock every 5 seconds. It had only been an hour but it felt like an eternity.

Giving a long sigh she plopped down on the seat next to Ryan. Her hands covered her face for a few moments then ran threw her hair as she glanced up at the clock, one minute passed by.

She couldn't help but go over this morning events in her head. _'It was stupid for me to run threw the complex, I should have just drove, it would have been faster.'_ she kept repeating herself. _'Then I took my time downstairs looking thru the rooms. If I hadn't have done all those things I bet we wouldn't be sitting here wondering if Natalia was going to make it.' _

Calleigh was deep in thought asking herself what if questions she was completely unaware that her boss was studying her. She gave another sigh and looked at the clock again, 5 minutes passed by this time.

Before she got back to questioning how everything went down Horatio spoke, "It's not your fault Calleigh. You couldn't have know where she was in that house, just be thankful you were able to stop Brian before he could do anything else to her."

Calleigh shook her head agreeing with him; after all he did have a point. Her leg started shaking so she decided to go back to pacing around the waiting with Eric and Walter.

It had been another hour when Anya showed up. She gave Calleigh hug and explained that Christine and Alex were at home with kids; the three of them were going to watch them in shifts.

The wait for Natalia's surgery progress was long and painful. Every time the doors would open everyone the team would look up with a little glimmer of hope, but that soon disappeared when it wasn't Alexx.

Calleigh tried her best to think positive, they had been waiting now of over 6 hours and Alexx hadn't come out which had to be a good thing.

It was another 4 hours till Alexx walked through the door and found herself surrounded by everyone on the team and Anya.

All she did was smile and nod, it seemed all seven of them were holding their breath and when Alexx gave an approving nod they all relaxed.

"She is alright for right now, the knife did hit her aorta but we were able to get to it before the cut got any bigger and we stopped the bleeding. The bullet completely shattered her kneecap so we had to replace it with a titanium one. She did break her elbow; she must have put up one hell of a fight, because the bone that broke off from her elbow broke into smaller pieces, too small to repair. So I replaced it with a titanium one as well. From what I could tell, sustained a head injury and on the way over here she lost consciousness which you guys know is not good." Alexx paused before she continued; "Because of this we put her in a drug induced coma. I'm going to keep her in a coma till I know that her brain will not swell and that her body accepts her replacement body parts and the changes I had to make to her aorta."

Everyone stood there in silence as they let Alexx's words sink in. Natalia may have been in safe hands now but she wasn't out of the woods just yet.

"Can we see her?" Calleigh finally asked.

Alexx gave a weak and shook her head no, "Not right now sweetheart. She is in post op right now, and I want to leave her there for another two hours so I can closely monitor her."

Alexx took a silent breath hoping that no one would question her explanation, but then again nothing ever got past this group of CSI's.

"Two hours? That's a long time Alexx." Eric started to say.

"I was kind of hoping to get around the this part, but she flat lined when she on my table. I was able to bring her, but it happened again when she about to go to her room. So I'm going to keep her there just till I know everything is okay." Alexx said raising her hand gently.

Alexx took a minute to look at each of them, "You guys look exhausted. Why don't you guys go out and get some fresh air, eat something, maybe take a quick nap. I will call you when she is in her room."

"I'll wait" Calleigh said as she turned around and went to her corner of the room and began to pace back and forth again.

Slowly one by one everyone went back to what they were doing before Alexx had entered the room.

Alexx just sighed and turned back around. All she could do was smile to herself and shake her head, "Something's never change." she said to herself as she went back to recovery to check on Natalia.

Like she promised 2 hours later Alexx came and got them, and she brought them up to Natalia's room. It was a single bedroom and big, but with eight people in there it seemed pretty packed.

Alexx was standing at the foot of the bed writing in Natalia's chart with Anya by her side. Calleigh, Ryan and Walter were on the left side of the bed. Eric, Horatio and Frank on her right side.

The room was quiet expect for the constant beeping of the heart rate monitor, the image in front of them was quite a site to take in. Natalia just looked so helpless, she was connected to so many machines, a ventilator to help her breath an IV drip going into her arm, and her arm and leg were elevated on a sling.

No one wanted to be the one to break the silence so they just stood their watching Natalia till Alexx got a page and left the room.

No one spoke for an hour, till a nurse came in and pushed her way by Eric, Horatio and Frank.

She sat a needle and bottle down on the table before she turned her attention to everyone in the room. "It's 8 p.m. visiting hours over. I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave now."

"Do we all have leave?" Eric questioned.

The nurse took a few moments to look around before she spoke again. "Normally I would tell you that only one family member can stay. But seeing how you are all police officers and you guys treat each other like family, I will let one of you stay." she said with a smile.

It was no question who was going to stay with Natalia overnight. One by one everyone left the room each getting one more glance at the helpless woman lying in front of them.

Finally Calleigh was alone with Natalia and the nurse, Calleigh found Natalia's hand and held it while she took a sit next her. She looked at the nurse and studied her as she filled the needle some type of clear liquid.

"What is that?" Calleigh asked as she watched the needle enter Natalia's IV tube.

"It's barbiturate, the drug that is keeping her in a temporary coma."

Calleigh eyes shifted from the nurse to Natalia, the nurse didn't need to know Calleigh to see the worry and distress in her eyes.

"I have been a nurse here for the past 30 years, and I have given this drug to a lot people. I can promise you this when drug is completely out of her system she will wake up." She said with a smile before leaving Calleigh alone in the room with Natalia.

Calleigh removed a strand of hair from Natalia's face before she leaned in and gave her kiss on the forehead.

"Hey Nat it's me. The nurse made everyone else leave; you know if they could they would be here with you... I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm not leaving. I'm going to stay here with you like I promised."

For the next week Calleigh stayed planted in her sit by Natalia's side. Every eight hours a piece of Calleigh would die when the nurse would come in give Natalia her shot. Most of the team and Natalia's sisters would stop by every now and then. Each time they came they would always bring breakfast, lunch or dinner for Calleigh.

Whenever someone came that was from the lab Calleigh couldn't help but ask how things were going. She knew that when she came back the ballistics lab would probably be a mess because Jim was in charge of it while she was away, and seeing how things went the last time he was in charge of it, she didn't have much faith in him.

As they entered their second week, Natalia was slowly eased off of her ventilator and she no longer needed a heart rate monitor.

It wasn't till Friday afternoon when Alexx competed her usual tests on Natalia that she gave Calleigh some good news. She told her that her body has accepted the new changes made to it, and that there was no longer a threat of her brain swelling. So she could come out of coma, and that there was a high possibility that she would wake up by Sunday or Monday.

It was Sunday evening and Calleigh was flipping threw the channels trying to find something to watch to help pass the time. She stopped at Comedy Central when she saw that Reno 911! was on. She just grinned and chuckled to herself before looking at Natalia.

"Keep a secret? I love the fake cop shows on T.V. and I don't know why." She continued with a light smile, "Reno 911! it's my favorite, I think it's because all of the crazy stuff they get away with. Kind of ridiculous when think about it, if we pulled anything like that we would be in a lot of trouble. I even went to go see the movie theaters by myself, that's how much I love the show. I don't know what's crazier going to go see Reno 911! when it was in theaters or going to a movie by myself."

Calleigh was quiet for a few more seconds staring off into space with Reno 911! in the background.

"I think I have told you my whole life story in the past two weeks. Some of the stories were deep secrets that not a lot of people know about... I really wish you were awake to make fun of me and crazy childhood days. See your smile, hear your laugh, or just stare into your eyes..." Calleigh just sighed as she took Natalia's hand with hers and leaned back in the chair and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

><p>The room was quiet for the most of the evening, the nurse came into to check on Natalia and saw that Calleigh fallen asleep so she turned off the T.V.<p>

For most of the day Natalia could hear Calleigh's voice come in and out at random times, and now it was quiet maybe a little too quiet the brunette thought to herself.

It was at that moment fear and panic set in over her. She thought that she was still at the condo that Brian had locked her up in. That hearing Calleigh's voice was nothing but her imagination, her subconscious trying to calm her down.

Whatever it was, it made her not want to open her eyes. She was scared about what the end result would be. She tried to recall the events that happened to her two week ago, but the only thing she could remember was her and Brian fighting on the stairs. She could have sworn that she saw Calleigh's face before everything went fuzzy, but she couldn't be too sure.

After a few moments she was able to brace herself, to see were she was. She swallowed hard, and soon realized how much of a mistake that was. Her throat was on fire, as the saliva worked its way down it left nothing but a fiery trail in its wake.

She slowly opened up her eyes, and she felt a little more relaxed when she saw that she was in a semi dark room. Looking straight ahead she could see a white board that said, _'Natalia Boa Vista, 35 year old female, allergies none, current nurse on duty Claire.' _Looking over to her right she could see her right leg and arm were in a sling, but when she looked over to her left all fear and panic went away. There she saw sitting in a chair holding her hand with her head tilted to the side and blonde hair over her face sleeping was Calleigh.

Natalia tried to open her mouth but soon realized that she couldn't, running her tongue on the inside of her mouth she felt wires all around. At that time she knew that her jaw had been wired shut. She tried to reposition herself to something a little more comfortable but stopped suddenly as an intense pain ripped though her body causing her squeeze down on Calleigh's hand.

Calleigh felt the pressure on her hand and jolted awake. She looked over to Natalia to see her in pain looking up at the ceiling while groaning.

Calleigh stood up and reached for the call button while shouting "Claire!"

A few seconds later Claire came running into the room, it took both woman a little over 10 minutes to get Natalia to relax. Once Natalia was settled down Claire left the room telling them that she would be back with something to help ease the pain.

"Hey you, I'm glad you're awake, even if you tried to break my hand in the process." Calleigh whispered as she ran her free thru Natalia's hair. "We were all worried about, scared that you weren't going to wake up. Even if Alexx did her best to tell us other wise."

Calleigh was about to say when Claire returned with a bag of Morphine to help Natalia with the pain. It didn't take long for the effects to hit Natalia, and before she knew it she sleeping peacefully while Calleigh watched over her.

Once people found out that Natalia was awake she was getting a lot more visitors. When Alex and Christine came they brought the kids with them, who each gave her a hand made get well soon card. The boys would come by and tell both of the girls how much they were missed in the lab, that the DNA and ballistics labs were slowly going down hill.

Natalia was in the hospital for another week, before Alexx released. Even through she knew the answer she wanted to make sure the Calleigh would be there with her, because Natalia didn't have the strength yet to live and function on her own. She also told Natalia that she would have to come back to the hospital at least 5 times a week for physical therapy, and that she could not go back to work unless she said so.

Calleigh drove Natalia back to her house, where Natalia made her way slowly to living room with the help of her crutches. While Calleigh put her bags upstairs before joining Natalia downstairs on the couch.

Calleigh wrapped her arms around Natalia who rested her head in crook of Calleigh's neck, and the two them cuddled on the couch while watching T.V.

Natalia had the remote and was looking thru the guide when she came upon Reno 911! on Comedy Central.

Calleigh sat there and bit down on her lower lip. "Reno 911?" she asked.

Natalia lifted her head to look up at Calleigh who was looking at her with a confused looked.

"Don't pretend like you hate this, you told me it was favorite." Natalia said as she rested her head back down, "Oh, and just an FYI I think it's crazier that you went the movie alone. I would have gone with you to see it, granted I would tease till the cows came home, but I would have gone with you."

Calleigh looked down the Natalia with a slight grin, "You heard me when I was talking to you?"

"Bits and pieces. Hearing your voice helped me fight to wake up."

Calleigh looked down at Natalia before smiling to herself, Natalia was different from her past relationships, and for some reason she couldn't put a figure out way. Sure she had dated her fair share of people in past each of them unique as the last, but Natalia made Calleigh do things that were illogical.

She knew that she that she should have waited for backup to arrive before she kicked down the door at the condo. She did manage to clear two rooms downstairs before rushing upstairs to help Natalia, I guess she got lucky that Brian was working alone and no else was in the house. Who knows what could have happened if there were more people in the house or if Brian set up traps downstairs and upstairs. That really didn't matter now they found Natalia and she was safe now. I guess the next time she goes into work she will find out if she is in any trouble.

Calleigh just smiled to herself as she continued to watch the T.V. that she wasn't really paying that much attention to. She was too busy mindless over analyzing her relationship with Natalia. She didn't know why, she had already known the reason why Natalia was so different then all the other people she dated.

Calleigh was absolutely 100% in love with Natalia, and would do anything for her. Even if Natalia didn't feel the same way about her. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with brunette, have their own kids running around the house playing cops and robbers with nerf guns or drawing on the walls upstairs with washable wall chalk. Tan kids with caramel hair mixed with kids that had blonde hair and green eyes playing with Christine's kids. Granted that would be a lot of kids in the house, but Calleigh would love every moment of it. Even if that meant putting up with kids for 4 or more hours that probably won't listen to her or Natalia. But it would be the family that she always wanted, and in someway deprived herself from by hiding in her work.

For the first time ever, Calleigh was actually in love with someone. In all of her relationships never said those three magic words that seemed to make everyone happy or in Calleigh's case scared. It seemed like every time someone said it to her she would get scared and end the relationship; she did it with Jake, Eric and John.

Calleigh sat there staring blankly at the T.V. screen while she struggled with her inner turmoil. She didn't know how it happened but it did, without taking her eyes from the T.V. Calleigh's mouth opened and said those three, well in her case four magical words that seemed to have so much power.

"I love you Natalia."

The room was quiet expect for the T.V. the more the silence lingered the more nervous Calleigh became. She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't realize that Natalia was sitting up looking at her.

Natalia grabbed Calleigh's chin and turned her head so they were looking at each other. The moment Calleigh looked into Natalia's warm chocolate eyes all inner turmoil stopped. "I love you too Calleigh," Natalia whispered before leaning in for a kiss.

The kiss was long and passionate as both women tried to pour all of their feelings towards each other into it. They didn't know what lay ahead of them, but what they did know, whatever it was they would face it together.


End file.
